Naruto Goketsu Monogatari: Uzumaki Ichizoku
by Durza II
Summary: The Tale of the Gallant Naruto: Uzumaki Family: After the Demon Fox's attack, Konoha is low on military strength and so Sarutobi Hiruzen contacts an old friend to look after the Kyuubi's Jinchūriki, Uzumaki Naruto. This chronicles his life of pain & loss.
1. Volume 1: Chapter 1: Prologue

The morning sun shone from the horizon, giving everything an orange tinge. The freshness of the morning assaulted the senses, from the smell of dew, the breathtaking beauty of the scenery, the sounds of animals waking up, the taste of the morning air, to the simple feeling of being part of the rebirth morning brought. It was so … peaceful.

Kenji sighed and closed his eyes. He was glad that after such a long and arduous life he had finally found peace. He went down the stairs of his simple tree house. He never wore his sandals in the morning so that he could feel the moist ground. He had never stopped to admire such simple pleasures in his younger years.

He walked down the path toward the small river that ran near his house. There he undressed and stepped in. He did not even notice the freezing water, despite it being late autumn. Afterwards he lay on a rock to dry himself, his robes hung on a branch to air. He lay like this for fifteen minutes, letting the warm autumn sun dry him. Any longer and he did not doubt he would catch the ague. He got up, dressed and went back to sit cross-legged by the river.

"Come forward, child," he said.

From the cover of the surrounding trees a young monk appeared. He appeared to be in his late twenties. He had black hair, black eyes and radiated a quiet nature.

"Please, Brother Daichi, come forward," Kenji said.

"I'm sorry to disturb your peace, Brother Kenji," Daichi said as he stepped forward. "But I guess I shouldn't be surprised you knew I was there." Kenji chuckled at that.

"Some habits are hard to let go, I guess," Kenji said. Daichi did not reply and came to sit beside Kenji. He looked at the old man from the corner of his eye. Despite being eighty odd years old, Kenji radiated an inner strength and vitality. Daichi did not for one minute entertain the thought that Kenji's shinobi skills had dulled in the twenty years Kenji had been resident at _Hi no Tera_, the Temple of Fire. Despite his great age Kenji had brown hair, brown eyes, a straight nose which had a scar line running across it, no doubt an old battle wound, perfect white teeth and a slim, tall figure. The two sat in silence for a while before Daichi spoke again.

"I have some bad news, Brother Kenji," Daichi finally said. Kenji did not react in any way, and Daichi stayed quiet for another minute. But he could not keep this news from Kenji. "Konoha was attacked last week by the Kyuubi no Yoko, the Nine Tailed Demon Fox. More than half the village was destroyed and many shinobi were killed. The entire village of Konoha would have been annihilated were it not for the Fourth Hokage. He managed to use a jutsu that, in exchange for his life, saved Konoha from the rampage of the Fox."

Kenji digested this slowly. Sorrow filled his heart at the news. His former home was destroyed. The Fourth Hokage was dead. Konoha was now severely weakened and if they so chose, other shinobi villages could come and take over, even the lesser shinobi villages.

"I see," Kenji said slowly. He did not take his eyes from the river. The gurgling water which shone blue was hypnotic in its beauty. "But," Kenji continued, "I am no longer a shinobi, and the earthly concerns of men no longer rest on my shoulders."

Daichi nodded. As a monk resident at _Hi no Tera_, Kenji had renounced his attachment to the earthly world and had instead devoted his life to _Kami_, togod.

"And I would not have troubled you," Daichi explained, "had it not been for a matter I thought … extenuating." Kenji raised an eyebrow, still looking at the water. "The Fourth Hokage made a dying wish." That instantly got Kenji's attention. Death-bed wishes were very powerful indeed, and it was considered both bad manners and bad luck to ignore them. "The Fourth Hokage," continued Daichi, "bid me to come to you and ask of you a favour: to look after a child, one Uzumaki Naruto as he is now named." Kenji finally looked up from the river and into Daichi's eyes.

"Why?" Kenji asked.

"The Fourth Hokage used the **Shiki Fujin**, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, to seal the Kyuubi inside Uzumaki Naruto. The Kyuubi is an immortal creature, an extremely large mass of sentient chakra, and therefore cannot be killed. The only course was to seal away its malice where it would do no harm."

"That's where you're wrong," Kenji said as his gaze went back to the river. "By sealing the Kyuubi inside this boy, this Uzumaki Naruto, The Fourth made the boy a **Jinchūriki**, and the lives of Jinchūriki are rarely happy, if ever…" Kenji subsided into silence.

"Even so," agreed Daichi. "And this is why the Fourth Hokage wanted you to look after the boy. Even mere hours after the Kyuubi was sealed the villagers and other shinobi were baying for the child's blood, for the child's death. Sarutobi-sama was reinstated as Hokage, and I was honour bound to report to him the last moments of the Fourth's life. He, too, agrees with the Fourth. As Hokage his duty is to the entire village and not to just one person, but he cannot in good conscience simply abandon the child. Besides, the child is innocent of any and all wrong doing. Already Sarutobi-sama has made preparations that the child will be housed and taken care of separately from the other orphans. An ANBU guard of two shinobi will watch over him discretely, but this can be no guarantee against all the shinobi who would want to see the child dead. Only a constant guardian could keep him safe. Besides, Konoha cannot really spare any shinobi as all hands will be needed in the regeneration of the village." Kenji nodded slowly. He knew all this. He had merely been stalling. He did not want to leave the peace he had finally found from the arduous life of a shinobi. He was being selfish. Finally he bowed his head.

"Very well," Kenji said. "I will leave for Konoha on the morrow. I shall take care of this child, this Uzumaki Naruto, as if he were my own son, or rather grandson," Kenji added with a humorous reference to his old age. Daichi bowed too. He knew what kind of sacrifice Kenji was making. Kenji was finally entering back into the shinobi world. If the child was to survive assassination attempts on his life and guard himself from those who would seek to use him, or rather the Kyuubi within him, as a weapon, the child would have to become a strong and skilled shinobi. Daichi's his respect for the old man rose.

"Uzumaki Naruto could not ask for a better guardian," Daichi said. Kenji bowed his head as he accepted the praise. The two monks sat by the riverbank for a while longer, surrounded by peace, each deep in thought.

XXX

The circular chamber was dark. A thick, tapering candle burnt in the middle of a circular table. The table was made of mahogany and its polished surface shone in the candlelight. The table was dense and thick, giving an almost metallic ring if it were to be beaten hard enough. There were twelve cushions around the table, and twelve people sat cross-legged on these cushions. They all wore blue and white robes, apart from one man who wore red and white robes. This man was rather old, older than his peers certainly and none of them looked younger than fifty. This man wore a traditional straw hat that was covered with a taught cloth painted red and white, with the kanji for "Fire" written on the front. A long wooden pipe dangled from between the man's teeth.

"Welcome back, Sandaime Hokage-sama," a man on the Hokage's right said. The Hokage bowed his head in acknowledgement.

"Were it only that I was back in office in good circumstances Homura," Sarutobi said. The woman on the Hokage's left bowed in acknowledgement of the statement.

"Were it that," Koharu agreed. She waited a pause before continuing. "But it is under grievous circumstances that you have been called back into office, Hokage-sama. There are many matters that require your guidance if Konoha is to survive."

Sarutobi gave a weary sigh.

"If such duties are too much Hokage-sama – and none here would blame you if they were, and nor would your honour be tarnished in any way for you have served Konoha well for many a decade, and you have done well by Konoha as Hokage – then perhaps you should step down and let another more capable person assume your duties." Silence greeted the room at this statement. Every person in the room watched the speaker, an aging man with his right eye and half his head covered in bandages, and the Hokage. After a second the Hokage chuckled and puffed at his pipe, sending smoke up into the ceiling.

"Don't fear, Danzō," Sarutobi said. "I am still capable enough to lead Konoha. No, I was merely thinking of the Fourth. He was too young and too talented to have died. Konoha could have used a shinobi like him."

"True enough," Danzō assented after a short pause. The tension that had grown unnoticed in the room visibly eased.

"Then perhaps we can dive into the heart of the matters that require our attention," the man on the Hokage's right, Homura, said. "Our shinobi forces have been drastically reduced. It took a third of our shinobi to fight the Kyuubi no Yoko and hold it at bay until the Fourth got onto the battlefield. Fortunately most of the village was spared and very few villagers were killed or harmed so we are doubly in debt for the K.I.A shinobi." Here Homura paused and a heavy air settled in the room and each person said their prayers to the shinobi who had been killed in action. After a minute, Homura continued. "It will be a few years before we are back to full power. The wartime training methods the Fourth implemented for maximum results will need to be reintroduced so that Academy students graduate quite strong and have a firm building base from which to advance. This needs to be done immediately. Our resources are already stretched thin enough as it is so we need the next influx of Genin fast and prepared to take C-rank missions within three months of graduating." Homura took a deep breath and stopped talking. The Hokage sat there quietly for a few seconds before giving a slight nod. Homura bowed his head and then gave a quick nod to Koharu to continue.

"All the Clans suffered great losses to the Kyuubi's attack," Koharu began. "As such, for their continued trust and co-operation, we need to give them something in return for the services their Clan members rendered. The Hyūga suffered the biggest loss of all after Hiashi had to order quite a few number of the non-shinobi Branch Family members to defend Konoha. The Aburame, as I'm led to understand, also suffered losses-"

"The Aburame suffered the least losses," Danzō interrupted. Koharu bowed her head to his statement.

"In terms on the number of shinobi dead, yes," Koharu agreed. "But we should take into account, as Shibi reported to me, that the Aburame are a Clan that lives in a symbiotic relationship with the Kikaichu bugs; the Aburame are bug masters. During the fight against Kyuubi no Yoko many droves or nests of the Kikaichu died from trying to suck off too much chakra from the Kyuubi. While it seems demonic chakra has no adverse effects on the Kikaichu bugs, the Kyuubi simply had too much chakra. Even after hours and many dead Kikaichu droves, plus the other shinobi fighting the Kyuubi, the Kyuubi did not seem fazed in the least. Over half of the Aburame's Kikaichu droves were destroyed and it was all for naught."

"They should have realized their efforts were useless and retreated, regrouped and thought of a better strategy," Danzō admonished. "The Aburame are very logical and do not let emotion get in the way of the mission. They should have seen this and done what was necessary. Besides, what matters now is the number of shinobi Konoha has at its disposal. The Aburame can learn other techniques to get by until their Kikaichu droves are back to maximum capacity, which won't be long seeing as the bugs breed quite fast; this is only a minor setback." No one replied to that as all Council members thought this out thoroughly.

"Well spoken, Danzō." Everyone was surprised by two things; first it was the Hokage that had spoken and second the Hokage was complimenting his rival. "However," Sarutobi went on, "Although the Aburame are indeed focused and logical, they also possess the Will of Fire, like every other shinobi of the Hidden Leaf. They would never retreat and regroup whilst their comrades were getting slaughtered and their homes were threatened. It was also through their efforts that other shinobi did not drop from chakra exhaustion and give the Kyuubi an opening from which to attack Konoha; the chakra their bugs extracted from the Kyuubi was given to those other shinobi in need by the Hidden Jutsu of the Aburame Clan Head. After all their efforts, and despite all the truths you spoke, Danzō, courtesy and caution say we should act for the future benefit of all and honour the Aburame as they should be. Their logical minds would have seen the conclusions you drew and they will not expect anything in reward, and this will make our gesture doubly effective in making sure the Aburame continue to support the great tree of Konoha." Sarutobi drifted off into silence, his part spoken. Most people in the room were nodding. This was why Sarutobi-sama was Hokage; his eyes and heart saw far. A slight twinge passed across Danzō's face, almost imperceptible to all but Sarutobi himself. Danzō resented him absolutely.

"As you say, Hokage-sama," Danzō acknowledged with a small bow. "But," Danzō continued, and even though Sarutobi's eyes face was mostly covered by his hat, his well tuned senses picked out the need to score a victory in Danzō's voice. After all, the two had been rivals for many a year. Sarutobi knew well how Danzō's mind worked and knew instantly where this conversation would go. "There is the matter of the child."

Everyone knew which child Danzō spoke off. It was the child the Fourth had used in conjunction with the **Shiki Fujin**, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, to seal the Kyuubi away.

"Yes," Koharu agreed. "Something has to be done about the child. We cannot simply ignore him." The Council Chamber was completely quiet now. Everyone was listening to what was to come. Everyone, and by everyone it meant every person in Konoha, whether it be shinobi or villager, had been wondering the same thing. What was to happen to the child?

"The general consensus," Homura explained, "is the child's execution. It has only been a week since the Kyuubi attacked. Many lives were lost and Konoha is weak because of it. Tempers are running hot and judgements are being clouded. Already an ANBU squad has had to be ordered to watch the child every second of the day until we reach a decision."

"To many the child is an anathema. The Kyuubi, the cause of their misery and pain, lies within the child, safe and unpunished for its crimes. The wall that separates the child from the Kyuubi has become hazy, bordering on invisible, and since the child cannot defend itself from accusations, the general thought that the child is the Kyuubi incarnate has sprung up, from both villagers and shinobi. To see the Kyuubi protected and safe has sent mixed messages to everyone."

"Konoha is a village asunder," Koharu continued, picking up the plot. "We all need to be united so that we can survive, and the child is right at the middle of this. We need to send a message to everyone else that the Kyuubi is being punished. The simplest way to do that would be to execute the child. By doing so many people would be placated and we would all be united against any further trouble. Also, by killing the child we might just be able to destroy the power of the Kyuubi no Yoko. We would also remove any future threat the child might posses, like releasing the Kyuubi and letting the demon finish Konoha, or being captured and used against us in future by another Hidden Village." All of these arguments were coherent and logical, and they gained power as they mounted. Many in the room were not disagreeing. Sarutobi kept still and quiet, his face hidden and inexpressive, the only sign of him being at all present in mind being his puffing pipe.

"While I agree with most of what Homura-san and Koharu-san said," Danzō said at last, "I have other ideas regarding the child. As the honourable councillors said, Konoha is low on morale and low on strength. The child, a container of the most powerful demon to walk the land, can be put to better use than simply assuaging a few grieving hearts. By allowing the child to become a shinobi, and more specifically one of _Né_, one of the Root Division, the child can be trained by the elite and dramatically increase Konoha's military strength, easily taking the place of a hundred shinobi, given enough time. And I think you mentioned the grieving families who believe the child is the Kyuubi incarnate. Well, that might be to our advantage. If rumour were to spread that the Kyuubi was "imprisoned" and working for Konoha, many minds might be changed to think like we do. As punishment the "Kyuubi" can be said to be working for the betterment of Konoha for eternity, which wouldn't be far from the truth seeing as most demon containers, if they live past their youth and into their adulthood, tend to live for very long. With such a power at our command, morale would return readily enough and Konoha would become the greatest Village, and we would in turn make the Land of Fire and our Daimyo the most powerful nation and lord in the land." Danzō's voice had been carefully neutral and logical. It would not do for Danzō to sound too excited or like a fanatic. Silence greeted these words. Of the two arguments so far, this was the more alluring. No one dared to even breathe. What the Hokage would say would be the final judgement. Seeing as they had just been in a war, of a sort, martial law was still in effect in Konoha, and as such, for want of a better term, the Hokage's word was law as he was the highest authority in Konoha. For now, not even the combined efforts of the Council could out rule him.

"I shall only say this once," Sarutobi said after a long pause. "The Fourth Hokage made a request of this village before he sacrificed his life. The child was burdened with imprisoning the Kyuubi no Yoko so that Konoha and the world at large would remain safe. The Fourth wanted the child to be heralded as a hero. Obviously, from what I have gathered, that has a very unlikely chance of happening. However, I will not disregard the request of such a man and shinobi as the Fourth, one who was even stronger than me, the "God of all Shinobi". Since the child will not have the peaceful life the Fourth wanted, the least I can do is make sure the child has a good childhood. Before you say anything, I know the villagers and the shinobi need their morale restored, and therefore openly supporting the child will cause division in Konoha. But neither can I abandon the child. This is why I have enlisted the help of an old friend of mine. Konoha cannot spare any shinobi so I have found the next best thing. The child will grow up as normal as can be expected in his situation, and I am hereby making two decrees right now to help the child; the first is that all who know that the Kyuubi was sealed within the child are forbidden on pain of death to speak of it at all so that the future generations will not have their judgements clouded by their seniors; the second is that any deliberate attack on the child, especially by shinobi, will be taken very seriously. I want no vendettas to mar this child's life. He did nothing wrong. That is my final judgement." Sarutobi puffed his pipe and returned to silence. The room was silent. It was clear most of the Council did not like this at all but they had no choice but to accept. On top of being a very powerful shinobi, even at his old age, Sarutobi was also very famous and popular in Konoha and in the land in general. Going against him was not advisable in most situations, if at all.

"A decision worthy of your reputation," Danzō said with a bow. His voice was neutral but Sarutobi and everyone else in the room read the meaning behind the statement; Sarutobi was known for being a pacifist and soft hearted by the more militant people of Konoha. Sarutobi, however, did not react in any way. The council meeting continued onto other things.

XXX

Uzumaki Naruto was four years old. He was walking down a busy market street, a brown paper bag in his hands. It contained the following week's groceries. His babyish face had a permanent smile plastered on it, the simple reason being that it was his birthday today and after a hard day's work Kenji had promised to cook up a feast. If there was one thing Naruto loved, it was eating. The delicacies that were normally denied to him all year round were finally available for the eating. As usual, he would eat too much, and as usual, he would have a stomach ache the following morning. But the ever overactive mind of the young blond did not register this. Instead it concentrated on the fun it would have with its guardian.

But while Naruto strolled down the street towards his home, he was unaware of the three people shadowing him. Even under normal circumstances he would not have been able to see the people watching him for they were shinobi. No normal person, especially a four year old child, could have been able to know a shinobi was trailing them. And so Naruto continued on walking, his absent humming interspersed by random giggles as the boy contemplated his birthday celebration. Would his guardian entertain him with a new trick? Last time the old man had taken Naruto to the hot springs after the dinner and after a half hour soak, the old man had started to slowly rise out of the water until he was standing on the surface. Naruto had been three and immensely impressed. He had harped on about it for months to follow, pestering the old man to show him the trick again but to no avail. The old man said the next time Naruto saw the trick he would be doing it himself. That had been the best present Naruto had gotten, even though it a mere promise and nothing substantial.

Naruto turned down a small alley that would open up to his street. The day was pleasant and there were no clouds in the sky, and added to the euphoria Naruto was feeling, Naruto was not in the least bit scared of walking down a dingy alleyway. But he should have been for after a few seconds he heard a noise behind him. He stopped and turned, his face screwed up in confusion, confusion which only mounted as Naruto saw nothing behind him. Naruto turned round only to bump into something rock solid and drop his groceries. The brown paper bag prevented the groceries from scattering on the ground and getting spoiled. Naruto looked up and saw a boy of no more than thirteen standing in front of him. The boy's face was partly covered in shadow so Naruto could not judge who he was, but even so Naruto had the odd feeling that the boy was slightly smiling.

"I'm sorry," Naruto said bowing before he knelt down to pick up the fallen groceries. A foot suddenly stomped down on his hands, hard. Naruto have a scream of pain and tried to pull free to no avail. He looked up, the first vestiges of fear in his eyes.

"…what?" Naruto said slowly. "I said I'm sorry. I promise to look where I'm going next time-"

"That's not enough," the boy said suddenly, that constant smile on his face.

"What?" Naruto said again, fear now evident in his voice. A manic gleam came into the boy's eyes.

"Hold him," the boy said. Suddenly Naruto found himself dangling in the air, both his arms held in vice like grips. He looked left and right and saw two people had appeared, a boy and a girl, and were now holding him up. As he looked into the first boy's eyes, Naruto opened his mouth to scream but suddenly he felt a great fear building in and around him, an irrational fear that forced all the air out of his lungs and prevented his from even struggling as the first boy ripped open the brown paper bag and desecrated the groceries that would have made up the bulk of Naruto's birthday feast. Every piece of food was trodden on, spat on and urinated upon. Silent tears streamed down Naruto's cheeks. He hiccoughed. This seemed a wrong move for the first boy suddenly turned toward him, and that irrational fear that clutched at his heart with a vice like grip returned threefold. The boy walked up to him until their eyes were an inch apart.

"I bet you don't even remember them," the boy said softly, his tone neutral.

"W-w-what?" Naruto managed to hiccough. The boy's eyes narrowed.

"No, I bet you don't, demon." The tears returned with new vigour and Naruto had to fight hard not to bawl like a baby.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto practically shouted, the sound of his own intermittent sobs making Naruto shout to be heard.

"My parents, little demon, are what I'm talking about. You took them away from me four years ago-"

"What are you talking about!?" Naruto shouted even louder, tears freely flowing down his cheeks. The boy's eyes narrowed. A second later Naruto was gagging, saliva dribbling out of the corner of his mouth. The boy's fist was buried deep in Naruto's stomach.

"You took away my parents," the boy continued as if nothing had happened, "and now I will make you pay for it. I have waited long for this, pushing myself day and night to graduate from the Academy with the skills I need to destroy you … and now I will get my revenge." Another fist landed in Naruto stomach, and another, and another. The terror that had been growing in Naruto multiplied into unknown proportions. The pain at first was indescribable, but slowly it reached mind-numbing levels. Naruto slowly became detached to the whole experience, his mind seeking refuge from what his body was experiencing. He watched as the boy, the Genin, meticulously work on his body, inflicting wounds thoroughly so that no part of Naruto's body escaped. Naruto started to drift toward unconsciousness but the boy seemed to realize his victim was passing out. The boy took a few steps back and took deep breaths. Naruto saw the boy doing some weird gestures with his hands. A second later Naruto came fully awake. He looked around. The world seemed to be … melting. The boy in front of him and the two holding him seemed to be shedding their skins to reveal their inner selves. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the demonic creatures the kids were inside.

He screamed…

…and screamed…

And finally the cold grip of unconsciousness touched him, and he gratefully embraced it.

XXX

White. That's all he could see. He closed his eyes to moisten them and then opened them once more. Everything was still blurry and white. But slowly it came into focus. He was looking at a ceiling. Confusion gripped him as he wondered where he was. His whole body felt stiff and he couldn't move at all. When he tried there was a small shiver that went all the way through him. It was almost as if great pain was being blunted by something. He lay there for a long time, trying to force his mind to go blank but getting disturbing images instead. Finally his willpower broke and all the events that had happened flooded into his mind. Tears started running down his cheeks as the remembered pain and humiliation. After whatever that strange kid had done with his hands, and the things Naruto had felt and seen as a result, Naruto had lost all bodily functions and had emptied his bowls. But that had not been the end. As Naruto had fallen to the ground, his eyes wide and unseeing, tears running down his cheeks, the girl who had been holding him had run off and came back minutes later with a group of people in tow. The group had steadily increased in size but they had all kept strangely quiet. That had been when Naruto's nightmare had started. Unimaginable terror had come in the form of potentially a hundred villagers and shinobi venting their anger and hatred and finally getting revenge and reparation for what the Kyuubi had done. Tears started going down Naruto's cheeks. What had he done to deserve this? All of his short life had been spent enduring other people's animosity. Why? He had tried to hide his pain and confusion but it never changed, even when he tried his best to befriend other children. All he got in return were hurtful remarks, sometimes violent actions toward him, and cold looks from the parents.

"Why?" Naruto did not realize until a minute later that the question had come from him. His voice was thick and choked with emotion. His pillow was wet on both sides of his face as he cried even harder.

"Are you sure you want to know?" Naruto started at the voice. He had thought he was alone in his room. He strained his neck forward and saw that Kenji was seated at the foot of his bed. The old man, his only companion, looked even wearier and older than ever. Sadness and sympathy were in Kenji's eyes. The old man couldn't help it. Sitting there, he could see Naruto for the four year old boy he was. The raw pain and confusions was evident from Naruto's facial expression and the tears. Looking at him now, covered in bandages apart from his eyes, nose and mouth, Kenji could not comprehend just how people could do this to Naruto.

"You're the one who saved me," Naruto said. He suddenly remembered Kenji appearing at the end of the alleyway. For the first time in ages, Kenji's old man appearance disappeared and was replaced by something … more vital. Kenji transformed into a warrior. Maybe it was because of this new presence of power that he got noticed. Within seconds the alleyway had been deserted as the shinobi and villagers ran away, not wanting to be found out and identified by the Demon Fox's guardian. Kenji could have captured them all and made them pay dearly, and he nearly did, but the sight of his young charge mortally wounded and bleeding lifeblood onto the cold cobblestones had halted the murderous Kenji in his tracks. Right then and there Kenji's main concern had been to make sure Naruto lived, which was only just barely. Kenji had taken Naruto to the Hospital but the medics had been frightfully slow to act. However, once Kenji had incapacitated the uncooperative ones in the blink of an eye, and plus the fact that the Hokage had caught wind of Naruto's situation, the Hospital's main priority had been to save the youngster.

"Yes," Kenji replied simply. He closed his eyes. "I'm not sure this is the right thing, but I think I should tell you. You deserve to know."

"To know … what?" Naruto asked, all his crying having lent his voice a croaking quality. Kenji took a deep breath and looked into Naruto's eyes.

"Four years ago, as you probably know, on the tenth of October, Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi no Yoko, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Many people died that day, although thankfully the village itself was spared. The Demon Fox was unstoppable. Its power was simply too great. A third of the Konoha's shinobi died simply trying to stop the Demon Fox from attacking Konoha, and quite a few villagers died trying to flee the village as it became apparent that Konoha would be destroyed. However, when things seemed bleak, salvation came in the form of the most powerful ninja that ever came out of Konoha; the Yondaime Hokage-sama. He knew the Demon Fox could not be killed, it was simply too powerful. But he knew of another way. Using a jutsu he had created, the **Shiki Fujin**, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, the Fourth sacrificed his soul to the Death God, Shinigami, and pulled the soul of the Kyuubi out of its corporeal form and sealed it inside the body of a new born baby. But since the Kyuubi is nothing more than a large mass of sentient chakra, the Fourth was not in fact sealing the Kyuubi's soul but simply sealing away its chakra into the baby boy. The Fox was not killed by the Fourth as most believe; it was put away into a cage and the baby boy became the Fox's jailor." Kenji stopped, gathering breath to finally tell this child of his burden.

"That child … it was me … wasn't it?" Naruto's tone of voice was resigned, a tone of utter helplessness. Kenji looked at the boy who spoke like a man and he felt his eyes moisten. Some things in the world were just plain wrong.

"Yes," Kenji replied. "The child the Fourth used to imprison the Kyuubi in, it was you." Naruto let out a breath and settle back into his bed, facing up at the ceiling.

"That explains a lot of things," Naruto said, more to himself than to Kenji. "I always asked myself what it was about me that other people didn't like. Why did they look at me with those cold eyes? Why was I the only person without any friends? Why did I suffer like this day and night? What was the reason?" Kenji's eyes widened as his young charge revealed his innermost thoughts. Kenji had never suspected that Naruto thought like this. How had the boy hidden such feelings from an experienced shinobi like Kenji?

"Naruto…" Kenji could not think of anything to say. How could he comfort the child?

"No, Kenji, don't," Naruto admonished. "This is my lot in life I guess." Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Kenji could see how broken Naruto was inside. "I'll deal with this. Please leave, Kenji." Kenji nodded and stood up and started for the door.

"One last thing, Naruto," Kenji said. "I have been speaking to the Hokage and the teachers at the Academy and it's been decided that instead of you going to the Academy, you're going to receive tutoring from me. Normally you begin at the Academy at the age of six but I thought it best if you started earlier. That way you will have time to learn the things other children from the Clans and with shinobi parents learn. I will teach you most of the year and you will only go to the Academy a maximum of three months per year for special functions, exams and other such stuff. You will need to get to know your shinobi comrades at any rate. Your lessons begin in a month's time." Naruto nodded and Kenji left the room.

_So…_ Naruto thought. _This is my lot in life. My life will never be safe as long as I have this … thing inside me. Well, I will endure, not matter what other people say, think or do. I will not let my existence waste away. I will not sit by idly and let others do this to me ever again._ Naruto, through sheer willpower, reached up with his right hand and turned off the morphine drip. He waited an hour before the morphine in his body was negated and the pain built up. He clenched his teeth from the pain and endured. _I'm going to be a ninja. I must learn to endure pain and adversity. With this pain in my body, I swear that I will never again freeze up and allow myself to get into a situation like this. I will endure all pain and adversity. I will conquer myself!_

With those silent promises, Naruto clenched his teeth and set himself to endure the pain as a ninja must.

XXX

Kenji walked up the stairs toward the Hokage's private quarters. He knocked before he entered. Inside the room it was dark and quiet. The Hokage set on a settee, his eyes closed. These were one of the few moments he got true rest, time to simply relax.

"Kenji, old friend," Sarutobi said.

"Hiruzen," Kenji said as he went and sat on a settee opposite the Third Hokage. Before both men could speak again, four masked figures appeared in the room.

"Hokage-sama," said one masked figure said as he stepped forward. "Word has leaked out that Uzumaki Naruto will be privately tutored to be a shinobi through a program you agreed upon. There is unrest with most of the village. They do not think this a wise decision. We have managed to spread word that the tutor will be a monk from Hi no Tera and that despite being privately tutored, the boy will still be subject to the Academy's rules like any other student." This report was met by silence. The two old men in the room read beneath the impartial tone of voice of the ANBU group captain and into what his own opinion might be. Sarutobi nodded.

"Thank you. Please continue in your efforts, and have two other teams do the same. After what's happened the last thing we need is another troublesome situation. Dismissed!" Sarutobi gave a nod and the ANBU returned it before disappearing. Sarutobi sighed.

"You do know there's nothing I can do about what happened to Naruto, right?" he said. "Politics has blocked everything I could do. The Council is constantly opposing me, their main excuse being that we have finally recovered from the devastation the Kyuubi wrought. If I launch an investigation regarding the Kyuubi's container the villagers will not take that kindly. Simply issuing the decree that forbade anyone from mentioning that night brought an outcry from everyone. This situation … it's too tricky to handle properly. The most I could do would need Naruto's help, which raises two problems; the first being that he would most likely not cooperate for fear of being targeted again or he does not want to appear to be a tattletale; and the second being that no one will take the words of a child who has suffered severe mental and bodily injuries seriously. My hands are bound, Kenji."

"I understand, Sarutobi," Kenji said, and he meant it. While the Hokage was the ultimate power in Konoha, he was still subject to the daily trails and politics all leaders experienced.

Sarutobi's eyes narrowed slightly. "What do you intend to do about this?"

Kenji smiled one of his rare smiles.

"I sometimes forget you know me better than any other man, Sarutobi." He chuckled at this. It was true that sometimes the only person who knew you best was an enemy, or in this case, a former enemy. "But rest assured, Sarutobi, I will not do anything to the scum who abused Naruto. It would prove too easy. No, I'm going to let the boy handle this in his own way. He may be little but today I saw something in his eyes that seemed ancient. He's tough."

"I wish he didn't have to be," Sarutobi said wearily. He sighed. "Sometimes I wish I had never resumed being Hokage."

"But if you hadn't I wouldn't be here, Konoha wouldn't as peaceful as it is now, and Naruto would either be dead or Konoha's greatest weapon."

"True," Sarutobi said.

XXX

"Your shinobi training begins today, Naruto." Kenji and Naruto stood in a forest. Naruto wore a black _gi_ with black sandals, and fingerless gloves; simply put, he was wearing the traditional black clothes worn by ninja. He was crouched before Kenji who was wearing his usual monk's garb of red and orange.

"I am a former ninja and I know quite a few things about shinobi from various countries. I am going to teach you everything I know so you can pass the Academy graduation. After what I told you when you were in hospital, I'm sure you can understand why I want you to only get stronger and stronger. People are going to make life hard for you and try to bring you down, but don't let them. You are my student and you're not going to fail. I am going to take things slow on you, but also very hard. It has been my observance that students are speeded through their learning in their early stages, right at the time when their minds are like sponges too…" Kenji drifted into silence as he saw Naruto's blank look. He coughed.

"Very well, then," Kenji said. He closed his eyes to gather his thoughts. "First of all, don't be surprised if you are the last in your class for years. While your time at the Academy will start when you are six years old, my teachings take patience. I want to get you through everything you will need to become a Genin who can defeat a Jōnin with the help of his teammates. For such a thing to happen you need to become strong individually." Abruptly Kenji felt silent. "Tell me, Naruto, for you to defeat the Hokage, what would need to happen?" Naruto blinked at the sudden change of topic.

"For me to defeat Hokage-sama? I would need to become stronger, of course, very strong." Naruto said it as if he thought it a stupid question. Kenji smiled slightly.

"And what if, and bear with me here, you made the Hokage weak, as weak as a Genin your age, what then? Would you be able to defeat him?" Naruto blinked again, a spark of understanding in his eyes. He nodded, indicating for Kenji to continue.

"What I'm trying to show you here is that you do not necessarily have to possess great jutsu to be strong. Being physically strong is only one part of the problem. The other is that you have to become strong mentally. Being a ninja requires deceit to confuse your opponents and catch them off guard. If you can break down your opponents' moves into simple and easy to understand steps of logic, you can then devise countermoves so that once an opponent who seemed godlike now merely seems like a mortal and very clever human. This is most of what I will be teaching you for I, unlike the ninja clans and other sensei, do not place great emphasis on physical power. And, as a Genin, I do not believe you should possess jutsu that exceed your rank for that will only make you arrogant and lax, and will also attract unwanted attention, and as I already stated, anonymity is a ninja's greatest tool." Kenji closed his eyes again, gathering his thoughts.

"My methods are going to be a mixture of what I have learnt myself from many places, as I said before. I have combined this mixture into a training regimen for you to follow. The training regimen is in a red leather-bound book in my hut." Naruto knew Kenji meant the hut he had paid to have constructed in the forests surrounding Konoha. The old man claimed his mind worked better away from the distractions of the village. Naruto was inclined to agree. "Under my hut is a vault I created. In it are copies of the knowledge I have gathered over my lifetime. The originals are at Hi no Tera, the Temple of Fire. Some of these scrolls and books you will have to learn and some are there so that you might read them at your leisure." Kenji stopped again for a brief moment.

"You have a belief, Naruto. I was surprised when you told me it for not many other ninja share such a belief. You believe to be a ninja is to endure, whereas most others would say to be a ninja is to be a soldier for your village or perhaps to be a ninja is to possess great strength and ninjutsu or something along those lines. Your belief tells me a lot about you as a person and this helps me teach you." Again Kenji stopped. Naruto remained silent as he listened to his sensei. He knew there was a reason Kenji was saying all of this although he did not understand what. Maybe he wasn't meant to.

"Beliefs aside," Kenji continued, "to be a ninja requires chakra. I shall tell you a few things now, even though I doubt you will understand but a few. First of all, chakra is mixture of the physical energy present in every cell of the body, which can be increased by rigorous training, and the spiritual energy in the body, which can be increased by gaining experience and meditation, among other things. I would recommend meditation a lot because it helps calm the mind, it helps you gain more control over your body and your own abilities and for the reason I am going to mention next; you have to be able to mix the physical and spiritual energies in your body to make chakra. Different techniques require different portions of each while a few techniques require solely physical energy and others solely spiritual energy. By meditating and increasing your mind's potential, you also gain the more skill on the range of techniques you can learn and master. Do you understand all that?" Naruto's face was a mask of concentration but after a few seconds he nodded. Kenji continued.

"Understanding and mastering chakra is to understand and master most of the ninja world. But you cannot understand and master the ninja world until you understand and master your own chakra. As I told you, because of the Fourth's technique, you now possess two chakras; one is your own and the other is the Kyuubi's. The Fourth's seal was designed that your body would leak out a little bit of the Kyuubi's chakra slowly until you had mastered it, adding it to your own surprisingly large reserves. At this point in time it is impossible and unadvisable to teach you about the Kyuubi's chakra as you are too young and the villagers still remember the feel of the chakra and they will not take kindly to me teaching you about the Kyuubi. But instead I will teach you about your own chakra so that your feet will firmly be in place on the path to mastering it. It takes years to master one's chakra and it's a long road. I expect by the time you are a Genin you will be close to that juncture, closer than any your age at least." Kenji smiled sadly down at the boy. Even at a young age he could tell the boy understood the reason behind all of this. As his ninja career continued, the people who would dare attack him would be stronger and stronger. If he was to survive he would also need to be strong. Again Kenji felt the wrongness of such a fate on the shoulders of a boy. _I hope you had good reasons for this, Yondaime…_

"Lastly, in aid of getting your physical levels high, you are to wear these at all times." Kenji moved to one side revealing a small mound behind him. On the forest ground laid items of lead; a breastplate and a back plate joined by leather belts; two braces that went on his forearms; and two curved cylinders, greaves, that would open and close around his shins and calves. "Wear them under your _gi_." Naruto did so and was surprised by how light they were. Even though they were paper thing he had expected them to be heavy seeing as they were made from metal. Kenji smiled and formed the ram seal. From under his clothes a purple light briefly flickered before Naruto suddenly yelped as his body was dragged down by the increased weight of the artefacts.

"I placed a gravity seal on those. There are twelve levels. You are on the first. By the time you graduate you should be on the seventh level. I also think you should specialize in weapons because in the last decade there has been an alarming drop in any sort of weapon mastery. Ninjutsu seems to be filling up that lot." There was a note of disgust in his voice. "We will start with the basics like shuriken, kunai, senbon needles, and acupuncture needles. You also need a specialty and I think kenjutsu is perfect for you. I will teach you how to use katana, wakizashi, tantō, Dao swords, jian swords, and zanbatō type blades. Each requires different techniques and after a few years we will move onto only one type of blade." Kenji closed his eyes and nodded. "Yes, I think that will amply prepare you for your tenure as a Genin. Very well … do you understand all of this?"

Naruto also closed his eyes and let out a breath. It all sounded so much. He was supposed to learn this all. Eight years did not seem enough. Suddenly a steely edge came into Naruto's frame as he remembered that dreadful day weeks ago. He refused to be caught like that again. He had endured the pain then and he would continue to do so. He would do whatever it took to survive.

"Yes, I understand," Naruto said softly, not knowing that this kind of calm and soft manner was one he would adopt for the rest of his life. "I am ready."


	2. Volume 1: Chapter 2: Beginning

"Naruto, please don't feel abandoned."

"I don't."

Kenji sighed as he came and stood in front of the twelve year old boy. Should he tell him? After a moment's thought, he decided on the negative. Even though the boy was mature in mind, he did not believe the boy ready to handle this information yet. _Now I begin to see your reasons, Yondaime. What a great shinobi you truly were…_

"I have to leave, Naruto," Kenji said out loud to the boy. "I'm sorry I won't be here to see whether or not you graduate from the Academy, but I have complete confidence in you and your abilities." Kenji smiled for a second. "I wouldn't leave if I didn't have to. But certain events and certain conclusions have led me to believe that further investigation is required. I cannot tell you anymore than that, but believe me; if I am right then I will need your help, Naruto. You are a rare one among shinobi, child. If I had met someone like you during my career, that would have been enough to convince me there is something worthwhile in being a ninja. Better late than never, eh?" Naruto's lips quirked for a second and that was it. Kenji understood. He gave a nod and turned round. Kenji had always taught Naruto that he believed there were no such things as goodbyes. Even if you did not see each other in this life, you would see each other in the next or the one after that or the one after that or the one after that or the one after that or you would see each other in this life once again.

"Until the next time, Naruto."

"Until the next time, Kenji."

Naruto stood and watched as Kenji walked away. In a few seconds the old monk was swallowed up by foliage. Without a word, Naruto turned round and started walking. He had to get to the Academy by seven. His graduation exams were about to begin. Kenji had always held on firmly to his "Take It Step By Step" policy, which is why he refused to teach Naruto things he wasn't ready to learn. Naruto was an average Genin with average Genin skills, or so the Academy instructors believed, but there was one area Naruto always excelled openly, which was ironic considering that the area was stealth and deception, something if done well would not be open at all. Maybe it was Naruto's early experience that gave him the desire to be invisible unless he wanted to be seen. Or maybe it was because of the persona he had developed after the incident; being so young and not understanding what true revenge entailed, he had done what any normal youngster would and resorted to pranks. Sneaking up on ninja was much harder than sneaking up on normal villagers. Or maybe it was because Kenji saw that Naruto should not have average skills. Being a container he had to have certain skills to survive, and Kenji saw fit that at this stage the skills Naruto would require should not be confrontational but passive. Or maybe it was a mixture of these three. Whatever the reason, Naruto was a young master of silent movement.

Therefore it came as no surprise when no one noticed him slipping into the classroom. Naruto sat in the back row and watched his fellow students. As always, he felt a sense of detachment. He had learnt about group dynamics, he knew how the human mind worked and he could see how people interacted, but for some reason he could not embrace it himself. He somehow felt like an observer of normal human life. He shook of these thoughts. He rarely spent time introspecting since most of his time was spent training and perfecting his skills. Those activities took up all of his time. Kenji's leaving had somehow brought out his thoughtful nature. Kenji was the only person he felt any kind of connection with. In fact, he realized he had come to depend on the solid presence of the venerable monk. Kenji had been the only person to keep him from falling into despair. He shook his head and turned his attention toward the tutor at the head of the room. The Chūnin spared him a barely veiled look of surprise and anger for coming into the classroom without him noticing. Naruto ignored it, just like every other look he got. He had learnt long ago that these looks meant nothing to him. He was just the receptacle of the villagers' old pain and suffering. They needed to vent. And personally he couldn't care less about what they thought of him. Only he cared about what he thought of him.

XXX

The first test, a written test, was quite easy. At least, Naruto thought so. Most of the questions were on history and the theory of being a ninja. There were only a few tricky questions. Naruto could have easily got maximum marks after all the effort Kenji put into moulding Naruto's mind into the right frame, but what Kenji also put a lot of effort in was to make Naruto understand the importance of being nondescript, of not drawing attention. Even in his own village, in Konoha, Naruto was not safe. Following that, Naruto would have to appear normal in everything. And so Naruto perused over the test paper before picking the easiest questions and answering them correctly. He slowly looked through the paper answering the easier questions until he counted that he had enough marks to pass with an E, the lowest pass grade. He waited another thirty minutes for the test to finish, and in the meanwhile he alternated between watching his other classmates working through the paper and looking at the questions he hadn't answered and thinking up answers for them. At the end the instructor would give out the answer sheets. He would see if he would truly have gotten maximum marks.

When the exam finished the students all filed out of the classroom, an instructor passing them the answer sheets. A lot of the sheets were put into pockets or thrown away. What was the reason in living through an exam twice? Naruto perused over his sheets and was pleased to find that he would have gotten full marks. He calculated quickly and knew he would have exactly fifty percent, which was actually a D. He frowned at that. He hadn't been concentrating fully to have achieved a higher mark than he'd been expecting. He had been expecting to barely get an E. What was with him today? He shrugged it off and hoped that the other students would simply get higher so that he wouldn't be noticed. He paused. Most of the instructors hated him, which would mean that if he was lucky they would be their normal hating selves and deduct a few marks more than necessary. That gave him a sense of satisfaction, oddly enough.

"Troublesome," a voice said. Naruto looked to the side and saw a boy leaning against the opposite wall. The boy was tall, slim and had black hair which was tied back in a messy ponytail that bore a remarkable resemblance to a pineapple. The boy was Nara Shikamaru, the son of a Jōnin by the name of Nara Shikaku. The Nara clan was renowned for their quick and brilliant minds and also they're great expertise in medicine. They were also renowned for their laziness and Naruto could see this laziness reflected in the young boy's posture. But for one of the few times he could see a glint in the boy's eyes that told him despite appearances, the boy was very much alert.

_He's learnt deception quite well_, Naruto thought.

"What is?" Naruto asked out loud.

"These graduation exams," Shikamaru answered, looking him straight in the eye. "They're such a drag. All this hassle, it's just not worth it." Naruto kept quiet, watching the young Nara and waiting for him to get to the point.

"Why do you take such great pains to make sure your true potential is kept secret?" Shikamaru asked after a second. He recognised that there would be no beating around the bush like he had planned. Naruto had seen right through him. Naruto cocked his head slightly to the right, a habit he had been unable to rid of himself despite Kenji's best efforts. After all, patented habits would make it easier for people to recognise him when he would otherwise not want to be found out.

"Deception is a very useful tool in a shinobi's arsenal, Shikamaru-kun," Naruto said. "One day I may find myself fighting any one of the shinobi in this village. Having them knowing less about me and I knowing more about them would come in quite handy, wouldn't you agree?"

"Logical," Shikamaru said as he pushed off the wall. "But we are young and I wouldn't have thought any one of us would have a mind that calculated such probabilities. It indicates an almost … precognitive suspicion on your part." Naruto did not say anything and nothing about his face or posture changed but Shikamaru could swear the boy was smiling.

"Besides, I have a feeling there's a bigger reason," Shikamaru continued.

"It's time for the physical test, Shikamaru-san," Naruto said as he started to walk towards the outside. Shikamaru looked at the boy's retreating back and shrugged. At least amid all this boring testing he had found something to entertain him awhile. Still, he was going to keep an eye on Uzumaki Naruto. He had a feeling about the boy. Whether it was good or bad though, he didn't know.

XXX

For the second exam the students were required to show their physical skills, the skills that would keep them alive in the field. There was a small training course on Training Ground 14 that the instructors had prepared. The students had to make their way across it using their skills, and along the way several instructors were placed covertly. These hidden instructors would use different techniques, mainly genjutsu, to try and stop or confuse the students. The point of the course was to make sure the students were ready to be Genin and the rigours of shinobi life. Talented star pupils like Uchiha Sasuke and Inuzuka Kiba and Haruno Sakura had no problem traversing the course, and Uchiha Sasuke's record was the best in years, better than even that of Hyūga Neji and second only in the history of the Academy to that record set by another Uchiha, Uchiha Itachi.

Naruto looked about the course in boredom. He realized now that Kenji had been thorough in his education. Kenji had said nothing in life was as easy and simple as a training course. Often unexpected things happened. To that extent Kenji had always made sure the training courses Naruto did were those used by Tokubetsu Jōnin, the ninja above the rank of Chūnin and were next in line to be promoted to Jōnin. Kenji had always believed that it was this assumption made by Instructors that a D-rank mission would stay a D-rank mission that got Genin killed. You always had to be ready for the unexpected. Naruto could have cleared the course side by side with Uchiha Sasuke but instead he held back. He did as Kenji had instructed him to do and combed every inch of the terrain so that no unexpected surprises jumped out at him. Because some of the instructors bore some animosity toward him, he knew he would get more than his fare share of surprises. This is why he kept frustration at bay as he slowly made his way across the course. With his Jōnin level stealth abilities, he easily avoided most of the Chūnin arrayed on the course, but there were some he could not avoid for they lay directly in his path. These Chūnin subjected him to genjutsu and ninjutsu higher than was required for this test, but Naruto said nothing and endured. By the time he got to the end he was out of breath and he had numerous wounds on him. He had to fight hard to keep calm. Sometimes the behaviour of these people just got to him. He was pleased to find out he had gotten to the end of the course with ten minutes to spare, and what's more he was the last one.

"That took longer than necessary," a voice said from behind him. Naruto turned round to see Nara Shikamaru for the second time that day.

"I was unlucky. I chose the wrong paths at every turn," Naruto said, which was true enough because he had somehow managed to avoid the more lenient instructors and go in the paths of the more malevolent ones.

"Perhaps," Shikamaru said after a moment before moving away. Naruto shook his head slightly before he followed the boy back to the Academy for the third and final test. This Nara was most amusing.

XXX

The last test was perhaps the most anticlimactic, at least in Naruto's view. All they had to do was show the Instructors they had learnt all the jutsu the Academy had taught. Even better, all you had to do was show you had learnt at least two. Naruto shook his head slightly as he acknowledged what Kenji had said what seemed so long ago; the quality of teaching was slowly decreasing. Naruto calmly waited at the back of the queue for his turn. This would perhaps be the easiest test so far. When his turn came he went into the examination room and stood before two Instructors. Of all the tutors, these were perhaps the nicest. The one on the right, Mizuki-sensei, had grey-blue hair and an easy smile. The one on the right had black hair and a defining scar line across his nose. While he had been nice to Naruto, he had shown a no-nonsense attitude both Naruto and Kenji had come to respect. He expected the best from his students and nothing less.

Iruka looked down at his sheet and frowned. "Well," he said after a second, "it seems you have passed the previous two tests, Naruto-kun." Instantly alarm bells went off in Naruto's head. While Iruka's face betrayed nothing, Naruto knew the teacher was not happy. Naruto had not displayed the best results so far. Naruto knew whether or not he passed was up to Iruka, the class's main sensei. If he wanted to pass and still keep off the radar, he would have to make an impression on Iruka. He sighed inwardly. It seemed the time for hiding his talents was past. He would have to complete this test to the best of his abilities.

"Very well, then," Mizuki said good-naturedly, "can you show us the Clone technique?" Naruto gave a nod and instead of the usual four seals most of the lower level ninja used, he simply formed the tiger seal and said, "**Bunshin no jutsu**." Five clones appeared on each side of him. Iruka and Mizuki's eyes widened slightly in surprise and a small smile curved Iruka's lips.

"Good, Naruto," Iruka said as he made an obvious tick on his clipboard. Naruto saw something flash across Mizuki's face before he too smiled and nodded.

"Can you show us the Transformation technique?" Mizuki asked. Naruto gave a nod again, formed the ram seal and said, "**Henge**!" There was a burst of smoke that surrounded Naruto and when it cleared a second later both teachers were looking at the exact copy of the Sandaime Hokage-sama. Iruka's eyebrows rose at the choice of transformation but made no comment. He made some notes on his clipboard.

"Can you show us the Body Replacement technique?" Mizuki asked. Naruto again nodded and formed the ram seal followed by the tiger seal. There was a burst of smoke as Naruto's form was covered and when it cleared, instead of Naruto on the ground there stood … Mizuki. The teacher looked around in confusion and Iruka let out a short explosive laugh as he saw what had happened to his friend. He turned left and saw Naruto sitting in Mizuki's position. He turned to his clipboard and wrote a few things down and when he looked up Naruto was back to his original position after Mizuki had performed the Body Replacement technique.

"Very good, Naruto-kun," Mizuki said with a smile. "I see you have been practicing your ninjutsu very hard." Naruto just gave a small smile that Mizuki would take to mean agreement. Iruka also nodded and consulted his clipboard.

"And lastly, could you please show us one more jutsu?" Iruka said. Mizuki looked at him.

"Naruto-kun has demonstrated enough, Iruka-sensei. I'd say he's passed."

"I know, but I've always expected a lot from Naruto and I'm not about to change that now. Show me one more jutsu you've learnt, Naruto." Naruto gave a nod. From his ninja pouch he pulled out a folded sheet. He threw it in front of his body and his hands formed two seals before he clapped his hand together. The white sheet, which had unfolded as it had been thrown into the air, started to float instead of fall. An unseen wind seemed to attract it to the wall behind Naruto and in the blink of an eye it attached itself to the grey wall, taking Naruto with it. Another instant later the sheet changed colour to match the wall, completely and effectively rendering Naruto invisible and hidden. Iruka smiled.

"A perfect Cloak of Invisibility technique!" Iruka exclaimed. Well done, Naruto-kun!"

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei." Both Mizuki and Iruka's eyes widened and they nearly reached for their weapons as Naruto's voice came from behind them. Suddenly Mizuki laughed.

"Well done indeed, Naruto-kun. You've passed."

"Congratulations," Iruka said as Naruto walked round the table and stood before the two instructors. "You have graduated into a Genin." For some reason Naruto felt his heart swell and he gave one of his rare half smiles, which was more like an upward twitch of his lips. He bowed before he walked out of the room. The formal presentation of the results would be given tomorrow.

XXX

Naruto was sitting on a swing, under a tree opposite the entrance of the Academy. He slowly let out a breath. He had done it. He had graduated. He knew this was just the first step to accomplishing what Kenji had in store for him. Kenji had left a scroll with clear instructions. Upon graduating Naruto would go into their forest cottage and down into the vault. The scrolls and items in the vault were categorized in levels of difficulty. The first level was the student level which Naruto had completed in the eight years he had been under Kenji's tutelage. The second level was the Genin level, the level Naruto was at now. Naruto would complete this section during his tenure as a Genin. This had been Kenji's order. For some reason, however, Naruto had put off going back to the cottage. He had chosen instead to sit on this swing, watching his classmates. Their families were there, congratulating them. Naruto's sharp senses had no trouble keeping track of what was happening. He knew he should be at the cottage at that moment, already studying. But he had found himself unable to move. This interaction between people, these bonds, had him enthralled. He couldn't understand it. Just what was it that was going on? Was this the same kind of relationship between him and Kenji? Or was it more? For some reason he could feel a slight ache within his body.

As his eyes roamed across the yard he suddenly caught something that didn't fit in. It took a second to recognise the boy hiding himself in the shadows of a tree. It was Uchiha Sasuke. What was more surprising was that no one was near him, pestering him and fawning over him as usual. Even more surprising was the hard and lost look in the boy's eyes. And then Naruto's eyes and Sasuke's eyes met. Instantly both boys had blank looks on their faces. Unbidden, a scene came in Naruto's mind. It was back a few years, after the great Uchiha Massacre. Naruto was doing his evening sprint around Konoha. Sasuke was sitting on the jetty of a lake in the Uchiha District. Naruto's attention had been drawn to the boy for some reason. But it seemed that the young Sasuke had the same sixth sense about being watched as did Naruto because Naruto had suddenly found his eyes locked onto Sasuke's. Naruto had immediately looked away, not only because he didn't want to start anything, but also because he didn't want to draw attention to himself – and because he couldn't be bothered to be engaged in a stare-out contest. However as he ran past the Uchiha below him, his attention was drawn back. To his surprise, the boy was also looking at him. For the briefest of moments, both boys looked at each other with open curiosity and they couldn't help but smile.

Sasuke gave Naruto one last glance before he turned round and walked away. Naruto looked at the boy's retreating back before taking his lead and leaving the Academy.

XXX

As he left the Academy, he had walked past a group of students who had been bursting with joy. He couldn't understand their enthusiasm. Ninja had a high probability of dying on missions, even D-rank missions. A ninja's life was fraught with danger. He simply ignored them and used something he'd mostly taught himself and only part learnt to go by them without attracting attention; the Art of Silence. That's what Kenji had called it anyway. He simply drifted past them without making a noise and behaving like they weren't there at all. It didn't work very well unless he was in one spot, one position, and not moving. But he pulled it off anyway. He had learnt early on that the human mind, even that of some ninja, did not notice that which did not interest it. But as he walked by he clearly caught their conversation. The group of boys was some of the more well off students, students who came from families of ninja and the like.

"Father opened another shop, a bigger one," one of them said. "He specializes in weaponry. Any kind of weapon a ninja wants and he has it, reasonable prices and they are quality, unlike the previous ones he sold. But he can't be blamed for that. It was that Tenge's fault. His weapons were completely random."

"Oh yeah, I've heard of him. He used to be in ANBU before he went insane. Sells weapons all over the world, I hear." This came from another just-graduated Genin.

"Yeah," the first one said in a non-committal way. "Anyway, father said that since he's opening up a brand new shop, all of the old weaponry is on sale. Some of it is good, too." Naruto wondered at this sudden change of thought. Didn't the kid just say some of the old weaponry was faulty? "And best of all, he said I can pick any that I want. The moment I pick what I want, he's going to hire a tutor for me. I can have anything!" there were various exclamations of excitement. Naruto didn't really see the need, although he did acknowledge that weapons were rather efficient.

"Anyway, since most of the stuff is redundant, father also said I can have my friends pick weapons, too." More exclamations. "But not so fast! I will only let you pick something if one of you does a dare for me…" A hush.

"What, exactly?" one of the kids asked.

"To commemorate us becoming ninja, one of you has to use the skills we have learned to pull the greatest prank ever!"

"What kind of prank?"

"I don't know. That's up to you. But it has to be good."

"Oh … um … wait, I know! How about the dropout over there does it?"

Naruto winced and before he could stop himself he turned to face the group. "What?" he asked.

"You always pull pranks. Well, we dare you to do something that will go down in the history books."

"Like what?" Despite himself Naruto was getting drawn into the insanity.

"How about…" The Genin whose father owned the weapons shop frowned for a bit. "I know! Take something from the Hokage's office, something we'll know is his. Like his hat, or his pipe. If you do that, everyone here can have anything they want from the store."

Naruto thought about mentioning that he was the only one risking his neck but stopped himself. Ninja weapons were of brilliant quality and make, durable and reliable. They had to be because ninja got into battles frequently and with that much fighting normal weapons would dull or break after only a few months. Besides, these weapons came from a former ANBU, a Black Ops ninja of the highest grade. If anyone could guarantee quality weapons, it was him. Anyway, testing his stealth and infiltration abilities against the various Chūnin, Jōnin and ANBU who hung around the Hokage's tower would be good exercise.

"Fine," Naruto said with what had become his trademark grin. It had been upon Kenji's suggestion that he had developed a persona the whole world would recognise and judge him by. A ninja was a master of deceit, after all. Besides, with such an open and inviting attitude, it would be easier for him to interact with other people and get closer to them.

"When you've got it, bring it to the shack on Training Ground 17," ordered the leader of the small group of Genin.

Naruto nodded and with a small chuckle, this one in no way fake, he walked down the street, his mind already planning the night's foray.

When he turned a corner there was a blur of motion and suddenly a Chūnin was standing amidst the other Genin. They all jumped back in shock, surprised at the man's apparent materialisation. The man smiled down at them, loving the power he held over them, and the obvious awe they felt for him.

"Well done, boys," Mizuki said. "That was well played. He never suspected a thing. And because of your help I'll see to it that you do not have to go through the real graduation exam like Naruto is doing. Your loyalty to the village has been proven already."

"What will happen if Naruto actually steals something from the Hokage?" asked one Genin.

"He will be stripped of his hitai-ate, his forehead protector, his rank, dishonourably discharged from the Konoha Shinobi Corps and possibly even imprisoned. Disloyalty is not tolerated among Konoha shinobi."

"I never really liked him," commented one Genin, "but I really hope he doesn't do it, or he fails. I can't imagine going through all this effort and then having it all ripped away."

Mizuki smiled evilly, happiness coursing through him. He could imagine it happening, as he had been for several years.

XXX

Naruto slipped into a room as two Chūnin walked by. Even though it was nearly midnight there was still a large number of shinobi within the tower. Thankfully most of them were in the lower or subterranean levels, so the further up Naruto went the fewer people he met. Naruto put his ear to the floor and listened carefully. After half a minute he heard no one moving within thirty meters of his position so he abandoned the room and continued on his way down the corridor. At the end he had to suppress from breathing a sigh of relief. He'd found it. The staircase used to reach the Hokage's floor. After a look around he formed the ram seal.

_**Henge no jutsu**__!_ Transformation technique! Naruto transformed into the perfect copy of Kotetsu, one of the Chūnin who aided the Hokage by bringing him paperwork. Kotetsu had just left the tower, and if Naruto encountered anyone he would simply pretend to be Kotetsu and say he'd forgotten some documents. It was a simple plan, and Naruto was counting on that simplicity to get him through. Most shinobi could see through a shoddy transformation, but unlike most Genin Naruto had taken the time to observe his chosen target and learn some mannerisms. Hopefully those would carry him through any situation he might get in, but if specific knowledge only the real Kotetsu would know was required, Naruto would have to pull out immediately or he would be in big trouble. With a deep breath Naruto started climbing the stairs calmly; his face in the expression Kotetsu always wore when he was sick of walking up and down stairs.

XXX

Sarutobi Hiruzen watched Naruto's progress with increasing interest and a sense of pride. Naruto had grown a lot. To think that he had managed to sneak past over twenty experienced ninja was staggering, especially taking into account that he was a just-graduated Genin. Kenji had really done a great job with the child.

"But what are you after?" Hiruzen wondered out loud. "Why break into my office? There is nothing in there that would be of interest to you."

Hiruzen thought about it for a few seconds before he formed a hand seal. This would be interesting to watch. If his suspicions were confirmed … he could not bear to think of it.

XXX

Naruto had actually made it into the Hokage's office. He let out a slow breath, draining his body of all the tension and excitement he felt. He had just entered the lion's den, so to speak, the most dangerous part of the operation. He looked around, but it was a just a plain room with a functional table and chair, and stacks of books and paperwork. There was nothing in here that would convince the Genin. No, he needed to dig deeper. With that he approached the door on the right. Seeing as this was the Hokage's office, there might be some ninjutsu that would prevent him from entering the inner sanctum of the Hokage, but then again no one would ever think that anyone would get so close to the Hokage's office undetected. Their mistake, Naruto realised, was that they had never thought it would be an inside job. Naruto slowly turned the knob, but when nothing happened he quickly opened the door, stepped into the room and closed it behind him. He let out a breath. The room was huge! How could something like this be in the tower?

_This has to be some kind of space/time ninjutsu,_ Naruto realised. _But on this scope? A powerful ninja had to have done this. A constant space/time jutsu that emits and requires no chakra? … I never thought something like this was possible. I thought Kenji had educated me on everything he knew about __Fūinjutsu, and a space/time jutsu on this scale would require a very complex seal. In fact … in fact, wouldn't it make this room a … a kind of … separate dimension? That would explain things much better. That would mean the door I used to come in contained the seal and would transport me instantaneously to this place. But something on this scale… The Hokage would definitely use powerful ninjutsu to protect such a room. I mean, look at all the stuff in here! That's the mask the Second Hokage wore … sitting next to the Fourth Hokage's cloak! And that's …!_

Naruto suddenly felt a strange sensation pass over him. He could only think, _Shit! It's a gen–_, before his mind went completely blank.

XXX

Sarutobi Hiruzen hurried to the tower, his mind in turmoil. _Who is it? Who is after it? And to have a child do it! Who would do that?_

"Hokage-sama!" A ninja landed beside the venerable old man and the two continued on side by side. "What's wrong?"

"Iruka," Hiruzen said. "Just the person I was going to find. Naruto has stolen the Forbidden Scroll."

"What?" Iruka was beyond shocked. "How? Why? Naruto would never do anything like that!"

"I know," Sarutobi replied calmly. "Naruto was under a genjutsu. He went into my office, I don't know why, but once he got there something he saw triggered the genjutsu. Seeing as very few people in Konoha have ever actually laid eyes on the scroll, I'm guessing that someone programmed his mind to recognise the kanji written on the scroll. After he saw them he was nothing more than a puppet."

"Who could have done such a thing?"

"I don't know who, but I know that, much to my shame, they are a Konoha shinobi. Only a Konoha shinobi could have gotten that close to Naruto."

"But how did Naruto get into the office in the first place? The entire tower is crawling with shinobi, even at this late hour."

"He's more skilled than you give him credit for," Sarutobi chuckled. "I haven't seen such a talent for stealth and mischief since Kakashi. Well, the stealth anyway. Kakashi was never mischievous. Such a dull boy!"

"Hokage-sama!" Iruka reprimanded. "You can hardly condone such behaviour on Naruto's part."

"No, I suppose not," Sarutobi said but there was a gleam in his eyes. It disappeared after a few seconds when Sarutobi remembered the situation. "Iruka, I need you to find Naruto. The last time I checked he was headed south-east from the tower, and from the way he was moving he didn't look like he was going to stop anytime soon. I'm going to alert the other shinobi. They will read this situation badly and think that the Demon Fox has taken control of Naruto and aims to use Naruto to release itself from its prison. Even if this is not the case, the Fox just might be released. Whoever orchestrated this selected Naruto for a reason, and we have no reason to believe that those reasons mean either Naruto or Konoha any good. Find Naruto and protect him, Iruka, even from other Konoha shinobi. Wait for my word."

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" In a second the Hokage was left running on his own as Iruka used the **Shunshin no jutsu**, the Body Flicker Technique to cover more ground.

_Hold on, Naruto_, Iruka thought. _I'm coming!_

XXX

Naruto returned to consciousness standing outside the shack. His head hurt so much and so suddenly that he dropped down onto the ground.

"Ouch," he groaned. "What the hell happened?" Slowly his mind started to function normally as the headache receded. With this relief of pain came a torrent of images that only created more pain. He shook his head violently as if that would rid him of the images.

"A shoddily cast genjutsu," Naruto muttered disgustedly, "and I didn't even notice." Talking aloud seemed to calm his mind so he continued. "That rules out those Genin I was talking to, which means there was someone hidden nearby that cast it. But I would have noticed anyone come anywhere within thirty meters of me, much less cast an illusion, or rather I would have noticed most shinobi. But that kind of thinking won't get me anywhere so I'll assume it was a normal shinobi, probably a Chūnin of little skill, judging from this genjutsu. The genjutsu didn't even manage to hold me for long, which supports this theory. That means I can expect a visitor soon. But what do they want with me? And what am I holding exactly…?"

Naruto looked at the scroll in his hands. "Oh, shit!" he muttered. "That's just great. Of all things I was mind-programmed to steal; it had to be the scroll containing all of the Hidden Leaf Village's secret and most powerful ninjutsu." Suddenly his mind changed its way of thinking and a gleam entered his eyes.

"Konoha's most secret and powerful ninjutsu…" Naruto looked around. While it wasn't his normal character, he was nevertheless a pre-teen boy whose curiosity had been piqued. Slowly he opened the scroll…

XXX

Iruka landed on the ground, his breath coming in big gasps. He'd used nearly all of his chakra trying to track down Naruto and he was still no nearer to locating the boy. Suddenly a tremor shook the ground and Iruka faintly heard a shout. His body was suddenly flooded with adrenalin and within half a minute he was standing in front of a tired and battered looking Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto…" Iruka intoned, his face twitching.

"You used my full name," Naruto said as a smile came to his face, and how genuine it was really surprised Naruto. He was really pleased to see his Academy sensei. "I guess I'm in trouble."

"You have no idea," Iruka breathed. His body was pretty exhausted from his use of chakra, but seeing Naruto safe was enough to give him some extra strength. He had to keep the kid safe at all costs. For all Iruka knew whoever was using Naruto was on his way there, if not already hiding somewhere in the vicinity.

"Actually I do," Naruto said frowning as he stood up. "Someone used a mind-altering genjutsu on me, and from the after effects and the way I was able to fight it off, whoever did this to me isn't a very skilled ninja. And what's more I can only think of one place anyone could have gotten close enough to put me under the genjutsu, and that was just outside the Academy, which means not only is a Konoha shinobi responsible, it's also possibly one of the Chūnin instructors from the Academy. Given the way some of them have always treated me, I wouldn't be surprised it turned out that way. I suppose they wanted to frame me for a crime which nobody would believe I was incapable of, and also gain a scroll filled with powerful techniques."

Iruka blinked down at Naruto. "That … seems … logical." Iruka frowned, noticing for the first time that Naruto's battered appearance was the same appearance he had after a hard day of training. What had he been doing? Surely the boy couldn't have…

"It seems I've underestimated how sharp your mind is," Iruka said with a small smile of regret, "which I view as a great failure. I was your sensei, after all, and should have seen and encouraged all your abilities."

"Don't worry about it," Naruto laughed. "Kenji-san kind of made me hide my skills and appear just like any other average Genin. It made my life so much easier, although I'm sorry to say I had to anger you quite a lot because my homework and grades weren't always up to scratch."

"Did he now?" Iruka said thoughtfully. "Well, seeing as we both made mistakes our apologies cancel out. So you must be a lot stronger than you appear then? And what's with the bruised and battered look?"

"Well, I'm not that much stronger to be honest. I'm just as good as most Genin are. And, oh, that…" Naruto started to look around.

"What's with the shifty look?" Iruka asked, his face growing sterner and sterner by the second.

"Well, I kind of read from the Forbidden Scroll," Naruto said.

"What!?" Iruka hollered. "Doesn't the word "Forbidden" mean anything to you!?"

"And I kind of learnt ninjutsu from it."

"What!?" By this time Iruka's lungs could barely keep up with the Chūnin's exhalations. "Those are high level ninjutsu that require precise chakra control and high chakra levels! What do you mean you learnt from it!?"

"Well, it was only a few techniques, and to tell you the truth they didn't seem all that difficult."

"Well, I suppose they wouldn't," Iruka said after taking a few seconds to calm himself down. "You always did possess greater-than-usual stamina, and I always suspected it was tied to your large chakra reserves." _And because the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox is within you, your chakra will only increase over time, so I suppose Jōnin and Kage level techniques at the moment is within your reach_.

"We'll talk about this later," Iruka said. "Right now we've got to get out of here and to a safe place before the enemy shows up."

As Iruka was getting to the end of his sentence, Naruto's head suddenly turned ninety degrees and he looked up into the surrounding tree line. As Iruka finished speaking he heard a whistling sound in the air. Both shinobi saw a hail of shuriken and kunai coming their way, and because both shinobi were exhausted, neither one could get away in time. Iruka's body moved of its own accord. With his last burst of charka he picked Naruto up and threw him as far away as he could. Naruto's reflexes kicked in and he followed through with the motion, landing in a crouch, the Forbidden Scroll held tightly in his hands. Iruka let out a strangled groan as his body was pierced in several places by projectiles.

"I always knew you were weak, Iruka. You couldn't even avoid a simple attack like that?"

Iruka's eyes widened as he started up at the Chūnin standing on a tree branch. "… Mizuki? It was you?"

"Of course it was me! Who else would have the guts?"

"Who else would be so stupid?" Iruka retorted in a hoarse voice. His mind refused to believe what his eyes were seeing. "Why, Mizuki? I thought you were my friend. You are an Academy Instructor for heaven's sake! How could you turn on your student like that!?"

"Friend? Instructor? Meaningless labels that hid my true self. I was not your friend, Iruka. I despised you! What with your arrogant "I-know-it-all" attitude and your so called "principles". Where have they gotten you? You're still a lowly Chūnin who teaches annoying little brats!"

"I chose to become an Instructor, Mizuki. There are more important things than gaining fame and power."

"I suppose you're going to say something revolting like "taking care of the next generation"?"

"Yes!" Iruka shouted angrily, instantly regretting it as a wave of pain wracked through his body. He fought it however and looked straight into Mizuki's eyes as he continued speaking. "Passing on what I've learnt to the next generation is more important than anything else. Konoha will be eternal as long as our teachings and ideals live on down the ages. The First Hokage believed and acted on that belief, and as Konoha shinobi we should copy his example. Genin graduate every few years from the Academy, and I have to make sure they don't die the moment they leave the protection of the village. Mine is a sacred and important duty, and I take it very seriously!"

"Tch," Mizuki uttered disgustedly. "It's this kind of attitude that's going to destroy Konoha!"

"You were always hard-headed," Iruka said regretfully.

"Whatever, Iruka." Mizuki's eyes finally fell on Naruto. "I never actually expected you to succeed, Uzumaki Naruto. An idiot like you is never going to amount to much. But the one time I desire something you manage to pull through. The heavens must like me."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Naruto said mildly.

"Don't speak to me like an equal!" Mizuki roared and his eyes gained a fanatical gleam. "You're not even human!" Mizuki's gaze returned to Iruka. "You talked about choosing to be an Instructor and caring about the next generation. Well if you think so much of your students, why did you never tell Naruto the truth?"

Iruka felt a chill creep down his spine. "Mizuki … it's forbidden."

"Screw the Third Hokage!" Mizuki said. "Naruto, do you know why you've always been treated like trash? Why every villager and shinobi you've ever seen always looked at you with cold eyes? Why they had to fight hard from killing you?" Mizuki giggled insanely, enjoying the pain on Iruka's face, but mostly it was in anticipation for the pain he was about to cause the creature named Uzumaki Naruto.

"Mizuki, don't!" Iruka shouted, and another spasm rippled through his body. _It's been a while since I've been in battle_, Iruka thought. _I should have kept in practise more often. My body hasn't been this damaged in a long while_.

"Oh, why not?" Mizuki said smoothly. "Afraid that I will be proven right? That the boy is nothing more than a monster in human flesh? You seem to value your students so much, why not come clean with the boy?"

"Mizuki!"

"It's alright, Iruka-sensei," Naruto said as he stood up. "I already know about the Kyuubi no Yoko. I know that it's sealed inside me."

Both Chūnin looked at Naruto in shock. "You … you know?" Iruka asked in a whisper.

"Yeah," Naruto replied calmly. "I've known since I was four years old." Naruto looked up at Mizuki. "You're pathetic."

"You insolent little brat!" Mizuki un-strapped one of the two Fūma Shuriken, the Demon Wind Shuriken, on his back. He threw it with excessive fort and an expelled grunt, his eyes gleaming. Naruto looked at the oncoming shuriken and knew he had little time to dodge. His exhausted physical state didn't help matters any better. His only chance would be to wait for the Fūma Shuriken and evade it at the last second.

"Naruto!" Iruka warned.

"I know!" Naruto shouted back.

"You know nothing," Mizuki said darkly, and his right hand twitched slightly, and the wires attached to the Demon Wind Shuriken tightened, redirecting its trajectory. Both Naruto and Iruka could only watch as the shuriken changed coursed and rammed into Iruka's torso.

"No!" Naruto screamed. His mind blanked out. He could not understand what was happening. Why Iruka? Naruto was the primary target! Naruto looked into Mizuki's eyes and saw the malice and hatred there.

"Ach!" Iruka choked spitting out blood. Despite this he managed to talk. "Naruto, run, you idiot! I'll hold him off." And to both Naruto's and Mizuki's surprise, Iruka slowly but determinedly pulled out the Demon Wind Shuriken and all the other projectiles piercing his flesh.

"You just don't know when to give up," Mizuki sighed. He un-strapped the other Fūma Shuriken and without preamble threw it at Iruka. But this time Iruka was wise to Mizuki's tricks and was already moving toward Naruto before Mizuki redirected the shuriken's path toward Naruto with his wires. A sickening crunch echoed in the clearing as the shuriken bit deep into Iruka's back.

"I thought I told you to run," Iruka said weakly.

"…Why?" Naruto mumbled, still deep in shock.

"Because you're my student and I care for you very deeply," Iruka replied in a strained voice. He'd been injured too extensively and had lost too much blood. He was slowly losing consciousness.

"But … what about the Kyuubi?"

Iruka was quiet for a few seconds. "My parents were killed fighting the Kyuubi," he said at last. "And I hate it for that, for taking them away from me. I was only twelve when it happened. But I know there's a difference between you and the Kyuubi, Naruto. You stopped the Kyuubi from orphaning other children like I was, and I respect you for that."

"How touching," Mizuki said from directly behind Iruka. Before Iruka could even move Mizuki backhanded him, sending the Academy Instructor rolling away. Mizuki took out a kunai from his pouch and without further ado stabbed Naruto in the chest … and suddenly his kunai was impaling a block of wood. Mizuki looked around with an annoyed expression.

"You're only prolonging the inevitable," Mizuki said.

"You have no idea who you're dealing with," Naruto said from behind Mizuki. Mizuki turned around and smirked at Naruto.

"What can an idiot like you possible do to me?" Mizuki asked.

"Seeing as you wanted the Forbidden Scroll so much, I'm going to demonstrate to you its power," Naruto replied.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Mizuki asked. "A brat like you doesn't possess the skill needed to learn from the scroll."

Naruto merely smirked and formed a hand seal. "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" Shadow Clone technique. A huge cloud of white smoke covered a fifty metre radius around Naruto and when it cleared hundreds of Narutos surrounded Mizuki. Both Mizuki and Iruka gaped openly at such a display of high chakra levels. Mizuki gritted his teeth after a few seconds and reached into his pouch for a kunai.

"Come on, Demon Fox!" Mizuki shouted. "I'm not scared of you!"

Naruto looked at Iruka and back at Mizuki.

"You should be," Naruto growled in synch with all his shadow clones. It sounded like the rumble of a mountain or an angered god. Mizuki's heart missed a beat, and soon it was barely beating…

XXX

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said as he fought to keep his master conscious. Thankfully he was one to be prepared for all occasions and always travelled with a med-kit. Even with that though he'd ran out of bandages and had to tear strips of Mizuki's clothing, treat them with iodine and alcohol before using them on Iruka-sensei.

"Wow," Iruka said hoarsely. "You managed to learn the Shadow Clone technique. What else did you learn?"

"That would be telling now, wouldn't it?" Naruto said with a smirk.

"So you actually learned more techniques from the scroll, eh? Well, you're definitely more skilled than I gave you credit for."

"I am full of surprises," Naruto said, and the mischievous smile on his face wasn't the mask he donned in public, but a genuine one."

"Here," Iruka said propping himself up against a tree trunk.

"Don't move," Naruto reprimanded. "You'll open the wounds!"

Iruka ignored him, and reaching behind his head he untied his forehead protector and slowly tied it on Naruto's forehead.

"Here," Iruka repeated to a shocked Naruto. "You deserve this."

"Iruka-sensei…" Naruto murmured, at a loss for words.

"You behaved like a true Konoha shinobi, Naruto-kun. You defended the village's honour and used what I taught you effectively. As your teacher I could not be prouder. Well done, Naruto-kun." Iruka gave Naruto a big grin.

"Iruka-sensei…" Naruto said again. _What is this feeling? Why do I feel like crying? Is this the mystery of the bonds my class mates have with their families and friends? What is this?_ "Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted and he hugged Iruka. His chest felt tight and he couldn't breathe properly. Hugging the older ninja was the only way he felt he could express what he felt inside.

"Hey, Naruto! I'm injured, remember?" Iruka said. It was only after he noticed the young blond ninja was crying softly that Iruka smiled softly and returned the hug. They lay there under the trees and were sound asleep by the time the Hokage and his ANBU escort found them.

_Looks like you have formed your first bond in Konoha, Naruto-kun_, Sarutobi Hiruzen thought with a small smile.


	3. Volume 1: Chapter 3: Team Work

"He is late!"

Naruto did not bother to turn his head. It was the fifth time she had said that. He was currently in the same room as Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke, and the reason these three completely different people were together was because they were waiting for their Jōnin sensei to turn up and take them under his or her wing. The class of twenty-seven had been divided into nine groups of three by Iruka-sensei, and in the space of ten minutes eight of those nine groups had been whisked off by their respective Jōnin sensei. Only Team 7 – comprising of Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto – remained. And they had been waiting for nearly three hours.

"Maybe this is a test," Sakura said hopefully. "Maybe our patience as ninja is being tested here. Yes, that must be it! After all, as ninja we're expected to be able to remain undetected, and you can't be stealthy if you're always hyperactive!"

_I suppose she means me_, Naruto thought.

"If it was any other Jōnin, I might believe that," Naruto said.

"Huh?" Sakura said. "What the hell are you talking about Naruto?"

"You found out who our sensei is?" Sasuke asked knowingly.

"Hatake Kakashi," Naruto answered Sasuke, ignoring Sakura's question, "the scion of the Hatake family and the last of the Hatake family. He was born the only child of Hatake Sakumo, _Konoha no Shiroi Kiba_,Konoha's White Fang, a Jōnin of Konohagakure as famous as the _Dansetsu no Sannin_, the Legendary Three Ninjas themselves, and rumoured to be as strong. Hatake Kakashi-sensei was born on the fifth of September and is twenty-four years of age. Like his father, he is praised as a genius ninja after graduating from the Academy at the age of five, being promoted to Chūnin at the age of six and gaining the rank of Jōnin at the age of twelve. His Jōnin sensei was Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage, and his team mates were Uchiha Obito and Inuzuka Rin. Like his sensei the Fourth, Kakashi-sensei gained his fame during the Third Great Shinobi War; while the Fourth's famous technique was _Hiraishin no Jutsu_, the Flying Thunder God technique, Kakashi-sensei's own famous technique was the assassination specialty _Chidori_, the One Thousand Birds. It was during the Third Ninja War that Kakashi-sensei lost his best friend Uchiha Obito during a mission and due to Inuzuka Rin's medical ninjutsu Uchiha Obito gave his uncrushed left Sharingan eye as a gift to Kakashi-sensei. Since then Kakashi-sensei has attained the nicknames "Copy Ninja Kakashi" and "Kakashi the Sharingan Warrior". He is one of the most powerful ninjas in this village and definitely a consideration for the position of Hokage in the future. He also has a reputation for never being on time for anything and everything." Naruto gave his team mates a foxy grin. "How awesome would it be if I played a trick on him?"

Without waiting for an answer he skipped down to the floor and got a stool and a blackboard duster from the front.

"How did you find out this information?" Sasuke asked.

"I went to the library," Naruto replied absently and as he opened the door slightly and placed the duster precariously on top of it.

"You went to the library?" Sakura asked incredulously and even Sasuke looked shocked.

"Yes," Naruto replied as he checked the door out to make sure his trap would work perfectly.

"Maybe you should have done that more often so your Academy marks wouldn't be so abysmal," Sakura reprimanded.

"Now that was unnecessary," Naruto said in a mock hurt voice as he jumped off the stool and replaced it back to where it had been. "I passed, didn't I?"

"Barely," Sakura scoffed.

"Hey, just because you have an abnormally large head for the technical stuff doesn't mean I have to have one," Naruto whined whilst wondering on the inside when the pointless conversation would end. Sometimes the whole acting thing was just so troublesome.

"Who are you calling big headed?" Sakura demanded.

"Do you really expect that trap to work on a Jōnin of Konohagakure, an elite ninja?" Sasuke interjected and Naruto had to fight not to show his relief at the reprieve from Sakura's questioning.

"You underestimate the complexities and intricacies of my pranks," Naruto declared. "I'm not known as Konoha's Prank Master for nothing you know."

"No one calls you that," Sakura said. "Only you call yourself that."

Just then the three of them heard the sound of footsteps coming from the corridor outside and unconsciously they all watched the door. It rattled a little as someone clasped the door knob and then slowly opened. A head of silver spiky hair poked through the opening and the duster fell on top of it, spreading a small cloud of chalk around the head. The person coughed and choked and sneezed for five seconds before they managed to get themselves under control.

"Yo," the person greeted them.

"You're late!" Sakura shouted.

"Sorry," Kakashi said. "I got lost on the road of life. But I'm here now anyway and that's all that counts, neh? By the way, who put this duster here? I could have had an allergy, you know."

_This is our Jōnin sensei?_ Sakura wondered. _Someone who can't even evade a trap laid by Naruto?_

_This is the elite ninja Naruto was talking about?_ Sasuke thought. _Him?_

"I told you!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'm not called Konoha's Prank Master for nothing!"

"I thought I told you," Sakura said. "Only you call yourself that."

"You did this?" Kakashi asked. "Well, how shall I put this? My first impression of you guys … is that I hate you."

_What_? All three Genins thought miserably.

"Come; let's continue this conversation on the roof. I've never really liked being confined indoors," Kakashi said.

As Sasuke and Sakura followed Kakashi, Naruto stared at the Jōnin's retreating back. _You didn't fool me, Hatake Kakashi-sensei. You might have been late but you were watching us for a full hour. What did you learn about us, I wonder?_

XXX

Team 7 sat in the lukewarm rays of the noon sun facing their sensei. Kakashi sat on the railing at the edge of the roof, his gaze fixed on his possible-future students. They weren't that much to look at, if he was honest with himself. All of them had an air of being otherwise occupied, as if their thoughts were more important than what he had to say. The girl, Haruno Sakura, was clearly infatuated with Uchiha Sasuke whilst disgusted with Uzumaki Naruto at the same time. Uchiha Sasuke was clearly disinterested with his team mates and only interested in training. And Uzumaki Naruto … Kakashi couldn't get a clear read on the Kyuubi's container. He'd heard tales about Naruto, like how he was able to beat a Chūnin Academy Instructor, Mizuki, by using the Mass Shadow Clone technique. Naruto was a well known prankster in Konoha, and yet despite that, now that he had met the boy face to face, Kakashi couldn't shake the feeling that the boy's reputation and his true self were two different things. Whatever mystery surrounded Naruto, one thing was clear; Naruto, like Sasuke, would rather have been elsewhere, especially after Kakashi had "fallen" for Naruto's prank.

"Well, what do we have here," Kakashi said at length. "Why don't we start by introducing ourselves eh?"

"Introduce ourselves?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah," Kakashi said. "Tell each other your names, your likes, your dislikes, your dreams and hobbies. Things like that."

"Why don't you star then," Naruto suggested.

"Me?" Kakashi said. "OK. Well, I'm Hatake Kakashi. I have no intention about telling you my likes and dislikes. My dreams are… Well, I have a few hobbies…"

"That was completely unhelpful," Sakura muttered. "All we found out was his name."

"How about you start?" Kakashi said gesturing at Naruto.

"Right!" Naruto said. "Well my name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like training and I also like ramen. I love Ichiraku Ramen, especially when Iruka-sensei buys it for me. I hate the three minutes you have to wait while the water boils before you make cup ramen. My hobbies are trying out different kinds of ramen and eating. And my dream is to be just like Iruka-sensei and protect those who are precious to me. To that end I aim to be the greatest ninja to ever come out of Konoha and be the Hokage! That way I will be able to protect everyone and people will finally acknowledge my skill!" Naruto, who had decided to permanently don his loud prankster personality in public, had started speaking thinking he was mocking Kakashi by saying a lot of meaningless stuff but by the end he was very earnest. _So is that what I really think? So much for being nondescript, eh Kenji-sensei_, Naruto wondered to himself.

_He's certainly grown up in an interesting fashion_, Kakashi mused.

"Pinky, you're next," Kakashi said out loud.

"_Hai!_" Sakura replied. _Pinky???_ "My name is Haruno Sakura. I love … um well I mean I like … that is to say my hobbies are … well my dream is to … um well…" Sakura couldn't stop her gaze from going to Sasuke every few seconds.

_Looks like girls her age are more interested in love than in ninjutsu_, Kakashi mused.

"You haven't said anything at all, just like Kakashi-sensei," Naruto muttered admonishingly out the side of his mouth.

"What did you say?" Sakura asked heatedly.

"Nothing, nothing," Naruto back-paddled.

"Well then what do you hate?" Kakashi asked determined to get at least some kind of information from the kunoichi.

"Naruto," Sakura answered succinctly, her eyes narrowed toward Naruto.

"What?" Naruto asked whiningly. "What did I do to you?"

"You're annoying," Sakura and Sasuke answered simultaneously.

"Aww," Naruto said. _So this is what my team mates think of my persona eh? Well I'll just have to win them over. After all, team dynamics are important if all of us are going to work together efficiently as a unit._

Kakashi sighed. _This is going to be tougher than expected._

"How about you, the dark brooding one?" Kakashi said.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I dislike a lot of things and like very little. I don't have any hobbies besides training. And my dream isn't a dream so much as a goal; my goal is to revive my clan and … to kill a certain man."

_As expected_, Kakashi thought. _Well, at least Sasuke and Naruto have something in common, although I would have wished for it to be something less military like training._

"You're dreaming," Naruto said.

"What did you say?" Sasuke impassively.

"I said you're dreaming," Naruto replied with a smile. "The man you want to kill is Uchiha Itachi, an international S-ranked criminal who massacred the Uchiha Clan in one night, one of the most powerful clans to walk this earth. He graduated from the Academy at the age of six, was promoted to Chūnin at the age of seven and attained the rank of Jōnin and was made an ANBU captain by the age of thirteen. You're only twelve years old-"

"Naruto, stop it!" Sakura shouted as she saw Sasuke's eyes become darker and hate-filled.

"You're only twelve years old," Naruto continued as if Sakura hadn't spoken, "and you've just graduated from the Academy. You have a long way to go before you're promoted to Chūnin and then Jōnin. You're simply too weak to call such an ambition anything other than what it is – a dream."

"Too weak?" Sasuke said. "I'm not weak! Anyway, what would a dead last second rate shinobi like you know about it?"

"I am not a second rate shinobi!" Naruto said. "I bet I could beat you with my eyes closed!"

"Yeah, right," Sasuke said, subsiding. "I don't have time for dropouts like you."

Naruto clenched his fists, genuinely angry. "Who are you calling a dropout? I passed, just like you. In fact we got the same marks for the ninjutsu exam! We're both wearing Konoha hitai-ate which means we're equals. Where do you get off sounding so superior?"

"I _am_ superior," Sasuke said. "These hitai-ate mean nothing when strength comes into consideration. Jōnin, Chūnin and Genin all wear the same hitai-ate, and yet Jōnin are the elite and Genin the inferior. It is an undeniable fact. Just because we might be the same on the outside doesn't mean we're the same on the inside."

Naruto stared coldly at Sasuke and clenched his fists, and it took him a moment to realise by doing so he'd lost the fight. He could have come back with a retort. He could have simply ignored Sasuke. But by reacting so emotionally and negatively he had effectively lost the fight. Sasuke smirked at him, victory gleaming in his eyes.

_Time to intervene, I think_, Kakashi thought. He started laughing.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha!"

"Huh?" Sakura said. "What's so funny, sensei?"

"It's just that … you guys are … going … to be so shocked … when I tell you," Kakashi said through bouts of laughter.

"Tell us what?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi suddenly stopped laughing. "Well," he said seriously, "the exams you just passed didn't automatically make you Genin."

"What!?" Naruto said.

"It's true," Kakashi continued. "You see, those exams just qualified you to be considered to be Genin. The real exam will be carried out by the Jōnin sensei of their respective squads in the form of Survival Training."

"Survival Training?" Sakura whispered.

"Yes, Survival Training. Out of the twenty-seven students who graduated, only nine will be promoted to Genin and the rest will be sent back to the Academy. This gives the Survival Training a pass chance of only thirty-three percent."

"What?" Sakura said.

Kakashi started laughing again. "I told you you'd be shocked. Well, I'm off now. Meet me tomorrow morning at five sharp. A word of advice; don't eat or you'll puke. Bye!" Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto looked down at his hands. They were trembling.

"Scared?" Sasuke asked mockingly.

"No," Naruto replied as he clenched his hands into fists. "I'm … excited. This will be my chance to prove once and for all who's superior!" Naruto turned his back and started for the stairs. "No time to talk, I have to go and start training. See you tomorrow! Make sure you bring your A game because only one of us is going to be promoted to Genin, and I'm going to make sure it's me!"

From the shadows of the opposite building Kakashi watched undetected. _And so the test begins, and already they are failing_.

XXX

All three members of Team 7 arrived on time and therefore had to wait a whole two hours before their sensei bothered to show up.

"You're late!" Sakura accused when Kakashi finally showed up.

"I'm sorry," Kakashi replied without looking the slightest bit contrite, "but I got lost on the road of like but-"

"That's exactly what you said yesterday!" Sakura interjected.

"Is it?" Kakashi mused. "Well, I'm here now and that's all that counts. Now, let's get started, shall we?"

"_Hai_!" all three students shouted suddenly serious.

"Your objective is simple," Kakashi explained. "You have to get a bell from me before noon or you fail. You are allowed to use any and all weapons in your arsenal because if you come at me with anything less than the intent to kill, you will be unsuccessful. Now was there anything else…? No, I don't think so."

"Sensei, wait," Sakura said. "You only have two bells."

"Oh yeah," Kakashi said snapping his fingers. "I knew there was something else. I only have two bells because only two of you will pass."

"But I thought you said only one person from each team will pass?" Sasuke asked.

"I did," Kakashi replied. "The two who get the bells will be shortlisted for the title of Genin, but ultimately only one will pass. Also, I only brought three lunches; two for the ones who get the bells and one for me. That way the looser can be tied to one of those posts and watch the others eat. Or if you all fail you'll all be tied up and watch me eat. Whatever. I still get to eat." _These kids are sharp_, Kakashi thought. _And troublesome. They ask too many questions. Let's just hope they figure out the point of this exercise before noon strikes or else…_

"… Food…" all three students mumbled enviously.

"Right, if you're all ready then we can begin," Kakashi instructed. All three students tensed and bent their knees. "Three … two … one … go!"

All three of them took out smoke bombs from their weapons pouches and threw them to the ground. There was an explosion of white smoke and the three made their escape.

_Well, at least they know the basics of concealment_, Kakashi thought as his hand reached inside his pouch. _… What the hell…?_

From the surrounding foliage Naruto emerged, a cocky grin on his lips. "Let's fight now, fair and square. Just you and me!"

Kakashi scratched his head. _Oh boy…_ "You're a really strange boy, you know that?" Kakashi asked.

"The only thing strange here is your haircut!" Naruto said charging Kakashi. Kakashi slowly started pulling out his hand from his pouch and Naruto instantly stopped running, his posture tense.

_Ok, time to use my perceived weakness to gather information. Let's see just what Kakashi-sensei can do_.

Kakashi pulled out a novel.

"What the hell?" Naruto asked, momentarily unbalanced. "Why did you take out a book?"

"To find out what happens, of course," Kakashi replied nonchalantly. "You see, because you're so weak, it won't matter whether or not I read."

_I'm going to make you regret those words_, Naruto thought with an evil smirk. _But for now, time to gather information. I hope those two are watching closely._

Naruto charged, setting his face in a fierce mask.

XXX

While Naruto was getting his butt kicked by Kakashi-sensei, his shadow clone snuck up behind Sasuke, and before the Uchiha knew it a kunai was pressed against his carotid artery. Sasuke stiffened but he instantly realised there was nothing he could do.

"How are you in two places at once, Kakashi-sensei? Is this **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**?" Sasuke asked stalling for time while he thought of a way to get out of the situation. _Who'd have thought he'd come after us from the rear whilst our attention was focused elsewhere. Naruto, you idiot, you played right into his hands._

"Who said I was Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto's shadow clone asked amusedly.

"What!?" Sasuke shouted as he turned around, completely forgetting the kunai. Naruto removed it before the idiot impaled his own neck. "What are you doing here? How did you sneak up on me like that?"

"Questions, questions," Naruto said. "We don't have time for those right now. Answer me truthfully; do you really think you can take out Kakashi-sensei on your own? And don't give me any bullshit! This is the dude who was trained by the Fourth Hokage and is counted in the same bracket as Itachi."

Naruto lost his mask and looked straight into Sasuke's eyes. After a few seconds Sasuke scowled and looked away. "No," Sasuke said, "probably not."

Naruto regained his mask and smiled. "Well, in that case how about we join forces. Attacking from multiple fronts is better than attacking from one, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes," Sasuke replied as he gave Naruto a strange look. "What about Sakura-chan?"

"Oh, another shadow clone transformed into you and proposed the same plan. Seeing as she thinks it's you're asking she'll definitely say yes."

_So it's true, then,_ Sasuke thought. _You can actually do the Shadow Clone technique, and those clones can perform jutsu without disrupting the chakra flow. That takes skill. Not mention the fact that you managed to sneak up on me and I didn't notice a thing. You're more than appearances dictate, Uzumaki Naruto…_

"So your plan is that we all combine forces to accomplish the objective?" Sasuke asked. "What about after we take the bells? Who decides who gets the bell and who fails?"

_Failure never entered your calculations_, Naruto noticed. _I like that about you, Uchiha Sasuke_.

"I figure fighting it amongst ourselves is a lot easier than fighting a skilled Jōnin, don't you agree?" Naruto said with a smile.

_He plans on getting a bell himself, and there is no way I'll lose one to Sakura-chan, so ultimately his plan is to stiff Sakura-chan so it's just the two of us._

"Whatever," Sasuke said out loud. "So what's the plan?"

"With my Shadow Clone technique and the Transformation technique I can fool Kakashi-sensei into thinking all three of us are attacking him. Seeing as I have the most stamina it's only understandable I do this and, well, I'm the only one who can do the Shadow Clone technique. I can't hold the Shadow Clone for extended periods of time, though, so you and Sakura-chan will have to step in now and again to keep Kakashi-sensei from getting suspicious. If there's one area I excel in it's being sneaky – you know this. I did sneak up on you after all. So I'll be the one who will co-ordinate our movements. I haven't fully mastered the Shadow Clone technique so I'll use them to contact you and Sakura whilst the real me attacks Kakashi-sensei. We'll keep up the ambush and sortie attacks for a few hours, take a short rest, and then we'll launch our final attack. Don't hold back, otherwise we'll lose before we've even began. And, by the way, watch Kakashi-sensei closely. Watch how he moves. We'll need that information to form our final attack strategy. Any disagreements?"

"No," Sasuke answered. _This guy … his whole manner has changed. This isn't the loud mouth dead last I had to share a classroom with…_

"Any disagreements, Sakura-chan?" shadow clone Naruto asked his attention going back to Kakashi trying to shake off the real Naruto from his back.

"No, no," Sakura answered from behind.

"Good. I'm going to engage Kakashi-sensei fully and hopefully wear him down a bit. Watch how he moves. Both of you have sharp eyes and quick analytical minds. Between the three of us there's no way we'll lose to some scarecrow look-alike." The shadow clone formed a seal and undid the technique, making him disappear in a puff of white smoke.

"Naruto-kun," Sakura murmured.

"There's no doubt about it," Sasuke said. "This is not the Naruto we knew in the Academy. Come on, let's see if the dead last's plan can actually succeed."

Fifty metres above the two Kakashi looked away from his book and looked at the two creeping students. _Well, well, you continue to surprise me, Naruto-kun. Even I didn't notice you creep up on Sasuke-kun and I was watching unhindered from above. I haven't seen this talent for stealth in shinobi outside ANBU in a while. And coming up with the plan to combine forces to accomplish your goal. Well, well, it looks like you all pass. But … I'm curious. How will you attack my shadow clone? Will you actually manage to best it?_

XXX

Naruto blinked as the information from his dispelled shadow clone was relayed back to him.

_So they both agreed with my plan. That's a relief. It's a shame that I've gotta stiff them in the end but no one and nothing is going to stand in my way. I __**will**_ _become the Hokage one day!_

"Now where did Kakashi-sensei disappear to?" Naruto mused out loud. As he looked around he saw a shiny object glinting in the sunlight by a tree trunk. _A bell. Such an obvious trap … but as the dead last I gotta fall for such tricks. Also, if Sasuke is still in position he'll be in a perfect position to launch an attack from behind._ Naruto picked up the bell and was instantly flung into the air by a piece of hidden rope. Kakashi stepped from behind the tree and picked up the bell.

"A ninja should never fall for such obvious traps," Kakashi admonished.

"I know, I know!" Naruto said both because he did know and to keep Kakashi's attention. _This guy hasn't dropped his guard once, despite the fact that he'd dealing with kids. He's good…_

"You obviously don't. How am I supposed to work with such material?" Kakashi sighed putting his head in his right hand, effectively blocking his eyesight. At first Naruto thought, _yes, this is it. He dropped his guard!_ But then he noticed Kakashi's posture. While his eyesight had been reduced to zero visibility, his whole posture put his ears in position to hear any attack coming from the right, his perceived blind spot. _I hope you notice, Sasuke-kun, because I can't help you if our plan is to succeed._

The whistling of kunai and shuriken in the air soon answered that question. Naruto was, however, in perfect position to see Kakashi form hand seals for the Body Replacement technique. _This guy's hand seal speed … he's fast! No wonder earlier on it looked like he'd just disappeared. This makes our goal that much harder. We'll have to incorporate immobilising his hands in our strategy otherwise he'll easily escape whatever we throw at him. As soon as I escape this trap I have to tell those two what I've learned._

As Kakashi used the **Kawarimi no Jutsu** Naruto performed the same technique with a shadow clone he'd made earlier so that no one would realise the real Naruto wasn't caught in the trap anymore. From the safety of the bushes Naruto formed the ram seal and slowed the beating of his heart. Silence engulfed him and he scanned his surroundings with his senses.

_I detect no one and I don't feel like I'm being watched so I guess it's safe to locate Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan._

It didn't take him long to find them, but rather than creep up on them he approached them openly so they wouldn't do something stupid like attack him.

"Kakashi's hand seal speed is amazing, and with his reputation as the ninja who copied over a thousand jutsu, he's going to be hard to beat. Also, you two need to separate. Kakashi-sensei could be watching and the last thing we need is for him to know what we're up to."

"I'll head south," Sasuke replied and started running instantly.

"Oh, come on, I was just starting to cosy up to Sasuke-kun," Sakura whined.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said hesitantly.

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

"I don't even know why I'm helping you out but here it goes; you need to get your head in the game. Forget about Sasuke and concentrate on the job at hand."

"I am concentrating. Anyway where do you get off telling me what to do? Just because you came up with one good idea. Sheesh!" Sakura walked off south, following Sasuke.

"I'm not the one going back to the Academy so why should I care," Naruto muttered darkly. "Serves her right!"

Naruto stepped out into the open. After all, if he couldn't see Kakashi-sensei then the sensei couldn't see him. Putting himself out in the open like that had its risks but it also had its rewards. _There he is!_ Naruto started running and formed hand seals as he did so.

"**Doton: ****Gansetsukon**!" Earth Release: Rock Staff!

Naruto slapped his hands onto the ground and spikes of sharp earth jutted out from the ground in front of him. Kakashi noted the technique with some surprise.

"I didn't expect you to be able to do elemental techniques just yet, even D-rank jutsu like this," Kakashi said as he jumped up into the sky and backwards away from the attack.

"I'm full of surprises!" Naruto shouted. "Ha!" More spikes came up from the ground just as Kakashi landed, forcing the Jōnin to keep dodging and moving. Naruto smiled.

"What's so funny?" Kakashi asked.

"You're not reading your book anymore!" Naruto shouted. "I'm not weak after all!"

"Oh, you're still weak," Kakashi said conversationally as he returned to reading his book whilst still dodging Naruto's jutsu. Naruto growled genuinely.

_He's more skilled than I thought. But he is a Jōnin of the Hidden Leaf Village, after all._

"I'll be back!" Naruto shouted before throwing a smoke bomb onto the ground and hiding himself in the nearby foliage.

_It's been four hours already. None of us have eaten anything and these weak attacks and constant dodging are only sapping strength. We're only growing weaker. We have to act soon!_

XXX

_It's been four and a half hours_, Kakashi thought. _I guess this is when they are going to make their move. They're pretty exhausted and hungry._

As if on cue a hail of shuriken was hurled from the foliage but Kakashi easily dodged it. As he jumped backwards he sensed an attack coming from behind him. He turned just in time to block Sasuke's attempt to steal one of the bells. But Sasuke wasn't done. The young Uchiha launched a barrage of taijutsu attacks, all of them well timed and aimed at getting the bells, which kept Kakashi on his toes and in constant retreat. As Kakashi leapt away from the fierce attacks to buy time to regain his footing another hail of kunai came his way.

"The same attack!? You guys aren't taking me seriously!" Kakashi shouted as he easily dodged. But as he jumped away he noticed that he was jumping back into Sasuke's line of sight – and Sasuke was quickly forming a set of hand seals.

_That hand seal sequence … no way! He's not even a Genin yet! There's no way he'd have the chakra to perform a Chūnin level technique like that!_

"**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu**!" Fire Release: Great Fireball technique!

Sasuke exhaled a stream of fire that coalesced into a large ball before heading toward Kakashi-sensei. Kakashi's shock was so great he nearly forgot to dodge but thankfully his senses came back to him and he performed the Body Replacement technique with a nearby tree branch that had dried up and fallen to the ground as winter approached. But unbeknownst to him Naruto had been watching closely from up above and easily saw through the technique. He jumped down onto the ground and as he touched down he slapped his hands onto the ground.

"**Doton: Gansetsukon**!" Earth Release: Rock Staff!

"Not this again!" Kakashi whined as he jumped out from his hiding place as spikes of earthen staffs protruded from the ground and tried to impale him.

"I'm not finished yet!" Naruto yelled as he formed the tiger hand seal. "**Katon: Dochū Kibaku Fuda no Jutsu**!" Fire Release: Underground Exploding Tag technique!

The ground underneath Kakashi exploded and Kakashi barely escaped.

"Nice move," Kakashi complimented. "Since you're the only one who's used Doton techniques I'm assuming you're the one who put the exploding tags underneath the ground?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied, "but it wasn't just one trap designed to immobilise you. You're so fast I couldn't take that chance so I turned this whole area into a mine field!"

"Gutsy move," Kakashi said unfazed. "But isn't that a bit risky? Anyone could be caught in such a trap."

"The tags will only explode when I activate them," Naruto replied with a smirk. "Ha!" he shouted as he extended his right hand and clenched it into a fist. Kakashi leapt away a second before the earth underneath him exploded. "You can't escape!" Naruto shouted as he repeated the gestures with both hands with increasing speed, turning the whole area into a mini war zone as more and more explosions were set off.

"I highly doubt that," Kakashi replied nonchalantly as he dodged yet another explosion. "Your technique, while flawless, is a simple one and therefore easy to figure out. As long as I can escape the ground I'm standing on before you clench your fist I won't be caught by it."

"Naruto you idiot, stop!" Sasuke shouted. "At this rate we won't be able to see him with all this dust being kicked up. You fell right into his trap!"

"Wrong! He fell into mine!" Naruto shouted triumphantly. Naruto reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out a scroll.

_A summoning scroll? They're getting too confident. Time to counterattack a bit_, Kakashi thought.

"Too slow!" Naruto crowed gleefully as he unravelled the scroll and spun it around him. Fūma Shuriken, Wind Demon Shuriken, exploded from the scroll travelling at tremendous speed toward Kakashi.

_How did he get them to come out like that?_ Kakashi wondered. _This kid is just full of surprises. Too bad I'm a Jōnin full of my own surprises._

"I win," Kakashi announced in a bored tone of voice from behind Naruto.

"Keep dreaming," Naruto replied unfazed as he grabbed Kakashi's kunai-wielding arm by the hand, twisted it and the Jōnin so he now stood behind Kakashi. He gripped Kakashi tightly around the neck. "End game," Naruto whispered viciously.

"**Doton: Chikasen no Jutsu**!" Earth Release: Underground Cable technique!

A piece of wire cable emerged from the ground and looped five times tightly around Kakashi and Naruto, effectively rendering them immobile. Sasuke emerged from the surrounding shrubbery holding two ends of the steel cable, and from the opposite direction Naruto emerged holding two more ends.

_So they turned a simple D-rank Doton ninjutsu into a Collaboration technique __…__ impressive. And by using a shadow clone to capture me they can attack me without fear of hurting each other. This means I fell into their trap by counterattacking this Naruto shadow clone. They planned this extremely well. These kids are good. But where is __…__ Sakura? __…__ Oh shit._

Kakashi started laughing quietly to himself. _I cannot believe that I, Kakashi, known for being sneaky, was tricked by a dead-last Academy graduate. Those two kept me so busy fending them off I forgot about Sakura until it was too late._

"There's nothing funny here," Naruto's shadow clone said. "You've lost."

"I know," Kakashi said as his laughs became louder. "I surrender. Team 7 wins. You all pass."

Both Naruto and Sasuke blinked and looked at each other uncertainly.

"What?" they both asked simultaneously.

"You win," Kakashi said with an evident smile, "and I'm not trying to trick you into letting me escape. Earlier on I was just talking rubbish about the whole thirty-three percent pass rate. As Genin you are the weakest a shinobi will be their whole life and you have to learn team work. If one of you fails, all of you fail. You all grasped this concept and put aside your differences to accomplish the mission. You embraced the concept of team work and did brilliantly. No other Genin team has managed to destroy a Hatake Kakashi shadow clone before. Well done." With that the shadow clone Team 7 had been fighting all along puffed out of existence.

"You only saw Naruto and me working together," Sasuke said as he undid his part of the Doton ninjutsu, reeled in his steel cable and put it away in his weapons pouch. "We could have been working together to get the two bells and leave Sakura-chan hanging. How did you figure out Sakura-chan was part of our plan?"

"Sakura was the integral part of your plan," Kakashi explained as he walked out from behind a tree, Sakura by his side. "As the Genin with the best chakra control and theoretical knowledge, her role was a true shinobi's role; behind the scenes, and if done properly, undetectable. You utilised this information and had her do only what she could do – cast a genjutsu on my shadow clone to make it believe it still had the bells when in fact Naruto was going to steal them during my capture and replace them with fake ones."

"My timing was off," Naruto said with a frown and both he and Sasuke came to stand before Kakashi-sensei.

"Only by a little," Kakashi said indulgently.

"What does he mean Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked confusedly.

"It is impossible to cast genjutsu on a shadow clone," Naruto replied. "Seeing as their whole body is made out of semi-sentient chakra, there is no physical brain to confuse with genjutsu. I mean you _could_ cast a genjutsu, but it wouldn't hold."

"Which is why a simple and precisely cast genjutsu was needed for the two second time period Naruto's shadow clone needed to steal and replace the bells," Kakashi added. "My shadow clone would have been too busy dealing with Naruto and Sasuke to notice a genjutsu had been cast. I'm guessing that's why Naruto told you to concentrate your chakra and only cast your genjutsu, Sakura, just before Sasuke and Naruto used their collaboration Doton ninjutsu. Both your timings were off, but by only half a second or so, which is how my shadow clone realised what was going on. But considering this is your first time working together as a team, I'm impressed. Even teams who have been working together for a while don't show this cohesion. You're a natural team. Now, how about we all go get some much deserved lunch?"

"LUNCH!!!" Naruto screamed and in a heartbeat he was off racing toward the three poles where their lunch was secured.

"Where does he get all that energy?" Sakura grumbled as she followed with Sasuke.

_He certainly has grown up in an interesting way,_ Kakashi thought. _And how did he realise he was fighting my shadow clone and not the real me? But then again he is one of the few people who can use the __**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**__ to its fullest potential. Maybe there's something he learnt that I haven't. In any case, I guess I am now a Jōnin sensei. Obito __…__ Minato-sensei __…__ I hope I do you proud__…_

"Wait a minute," Kakashi said out loud. "I only brought three lunches because I thought I'd have to tie one of you to the pole."

Sasuke and Sakura looked back at him, at each other and then back at him. And then they ran with as much energy as Naruto had shown earlier.

"Where do they get so much energy?" Kakashi grumbled as his stomach rumbled.


End file.
